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Editorial
May 8, 1924
Springfield Weekly Republican
Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts
What is this article about?
The Detroit Academy of Surgery condemns Henry Ford's new hospital in Detroit for its assembly-line-like methods, refusal of charity cases, fixed fees over sliding scales, and restriction to in-house doctors, viewing it as subordinating physicians to business interests and threatening medical professionalism.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
FORD'S HOSPITAL
[From the Nation.]
Ford may break our bones with his flivvers, but he should not be allowed to repair them in a hospital whose methods "resemble nothing so much as a garage and repair shop where human machines are overhauled like automobiles." So thinks the Detroit Academy of Surgery, which condemns the new Ford hospital in Detroit because—among other things—it refuses to take charity patients, because it demands uniform fees instead of the sliding charges by which doctors are accustomed to let the well-to-do help pay for medical care of the poor, and because the institution refuses to allow any but its own house physicians to treat patients. These are all good reasons, but in the background lurks another which is even better.
Obviously in the Ford hospital control is in the hands of business men, and the physicians have become merely laborers. Our medical societies are among the oldest and strongest labor unions in existence. They preserve to a fine degree the old craft system by which an industry is controlled by its craftsmen, not by investors and business executives. They have a spirit of service and a code of ethics that are almost unmatched in any other walk of life. No, we have no wish to see medicine Fordized—and flivvered.
[From the Nation.]
Ford may break our bones with his flivvers, but he should not be allowed to repair them in a hospital whose methods "resemble nothing so much as a garage and repair shop where human machines are overhauled like automobiles." So thinks the Detroit Academy of Surgery, which condemns the new Ford hospital in Detroit because—among other things—it refuses to take charity patients, because it demands uniform fees instead of the sliding charges by which doctors are accustomed to let the well-to-do help pay for medical care of the poor, and because the institution refuses to allow any but its own house physicians to treat patients. These are all good reasons, but in the background lurks another which is even better.
Obviously in the Ford hospital control is in the hands of business men, and the physicians have become merely laborers. Our medical societies are among the oldest and strongest labor unions in existence. They preserve to a fine degree the old craft system by which an industry is controlled by its craftsmen, not by investors and business executives. They have a spirit of service and a code of ethics that are almost unmatched in any other walk of life. No, we have no wish to see medicine Fordized—and flivvered.
What sub-type of article is it?
Science Or Medicine
Labor
What keywords are associated?
Ford Hospital
Medical Ethics
Charity Patients
Physician Autonomy
Business Control
Medical Unions
What entities or persons were involved?
Ford
Detroit Academy Of Surgery
Ford Hospital
Editorial Details
Primary Topic
Criticism Of Ford's Hospital
Stance / Tone
Opposition To Business Control In Medicine
Key Figures
Ford
Detroit Academy Of Surgery
Ford Hospital
Key Arguments
Methods Resemble A Garage And Repair Shop
Refuses To Take Charity Patients
Demands Uniform Fees Instead Of Sliding Charges
Refuses To Allow Any But Its Own House Physicians
Control In Hands Of Business Men, Physicians As Laborers
Medical Societies As Labor Unions Preserving Craft System
No Wish To See Medicine Fordized