JAMA Revisited April 10, 1915
Is the Physician an “Easy Mark”? Regularly there drift into the office of THE JOURNAL the sad complaints of physicians who have trusted their fellow men, not wisely but too well. At least every third or fourth issue carries the old familiar heading "A Warning" and a detailed description of the latest species of the genus "fraud." The types of impostors are varied, at times, even amusing. A late specimen, leaping here and there over the country, offered to physicians, for the small sum of three dollars, a year’s subscription to any of the best magazines and a set of the complete works of any of the most prolific authors. A moment of thought would have shown the willing victims that the material offered could not possibly be sold for ten times the sum. Another engaging young man packed a sample case with the latest models of medical apparatus, offered to accept orders, at half the usual price, and allowed a special discount of 10 per cent. for cash with the order. The latter saving appealed so greatly to the economical physician that the suave gentleman used up his order book before he left the town. Strange to relate, neither the syringes, hypodermics and thermometers nor the money advanced were ever seen again. Perhaps the physician who reads this sad commentary on the perspicacity of his fellow practitioners has somewhere stored away some pamphlets on “New America and the Far East.” This proposition was—and no doubt is—offered to physicians as “A Series of Scientific Lectures on Ethnology and Anthropology, Recommended by the American Medical Association.” The lectures are delivered weekly at the rate of 25 cents per lecture, and the genial individual who introduces them claims that he is interested in research and the proceeds are to aid him in his monumental work. In due time the “lectures” begin to arrive at the rate of six or seven at a time. One must see these pamphlets to learn their true
Editor’s Note: JAMA Revisited is transcribed verbatim from articles published previously, unless otherwise noted. 1480
value—or rather lack of value. If the doctor refuses to accept them, and hesitatingly suggests that he would like to back out, the promoters try to compromise by offering something else, for example, cheap medical books, or obsolete editions of new books. A recent scheme is a so-called medical index association. The authors of this peculiar swindle engage offices, located in high-class medical office buildings, which are equipped with new furniture and a host of stenographers and solicitors. The offer is to send to subscribers, at the rate of five or ten dollars a year, a reprint of any article appearing in any scientific journal published in the United States or England, together with a complete monthly index of medical literature—an impossible proposition. After securing a good haul of subscriptions, the gentlemen quietly depart, leaving stenographers and solicitors jobless and penniless and the subscribing physicians innocently waiting for the fruits of their investments—which never come. It is hardly necessary to mention the various stockjobbing propositions which are offered to physicians as too willing victims. Putting aside the mention of worthless mining and agricultural stocks, there is the more vicious type which makes the physician a partner to a scheme for manufacturing worthless proprietary medicines and patent health foods. No physician can ethically connect himself with such schemes; from the business standpoint they are never profitable investments. We repeat—Never. Is the doctor really an “easy mark?” He is not. The doctor is no “easier” than the preacher or—let us whisper it—even the lawyer. The professional man is not in business; he is not a “trader”; he cannot judge when a bargain is truly a bargain. Here lies the whole trouble; he is not suspicious—not on his guard. His attitude is one of sympathy with, not suspicion of, his fellow man. JAMA. 1915;64(15):1247-1248.
Section Editor: Jennifer Reiling, Assistant Editor.
JAMA April 14, 2015 Volume 313, Number 14 (Reprinted)
Copyright 2015 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
Downloaded From: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/ by a University of Georgia User on 05/30/2015
jama.com
Is the Physician an “Easy Mark”? Regularly there drift into the office of THE JOURNAL the sad complaints of physicians who have trusted their fellow men, not wisely but too well. At least every third or fourth issue carries the old familiar heading "A Warning" and a detailed description of the latest species of the genus "fraud." The types of impostors are varied, at times, even amusing. A late specimen, leaping here and there over the country, offered to physicians, for the small sum of three dollars, a year’s subscription to any of the best magazines and a set of the complete works of any of the most prolific authors. A moment of thought would have shown the willing victims that the material offered could not possibly be sold for ten times the sum. Another engaging young man packed a sample case with the latest models of medical apparatus, offered to accept orders, at half the usual price, and allowed a special discount of 10 per cent. for cash with the order. The latter saving appealed so greatly to the economical physician that the suave gentleman used up his order book before he left the town. Strange to relate, neither the syringes, hypodermics and thermometers nor the money advanced were ever seen again. Perhaps the physician who reads this sad commentary on the perspicacity of his fellow practitioners has somewhere stored away some pamphlets on “New America and the Far East.” This proposition was—and no doubt is—offered to physicians as “A Series of Scientific Lectures on Ethnology and Anthropology, Recommended by the American Medical Association.” The lectures are delivered weekly at the rate of 25 cents per lecture, and the genial individual who introduces them claims that he is interested in research and the proceeds are to aid him in his monumental work. In due time the “lectures” begin to arrive at the rate of six or seven at a time. One must see these pamphlets to learn their true
Editor’s Note: JAMA Revisited is transcribed verbatim from articles published previously, unless otherwise noted. 1480
value—or rather lack of value. If the doctor refuses to accept them, and hesitatingly suggests that he would like to back out, the promoters try to compromise by offering something else, for example, cheap medical books, or obsolete editions of new books. A recent scheme is a so-called medical index association. The authors of this peculiar swindle engage offices, located in high-class medical office buildings, which are equipped with new furniture and a host of stenographers and solicitors. The offer is to send to subscribers, at the rate of five or ten dollars a year, a reprint of any article appearing in any scientific journal published in the United States or England, together with a complete monthly index of medical literature—an impossible proposition. After securing a good haul of subscriptions, the gentlemen quietly depart, leaving stenographers and solicitors jobless and penniless and the subscribing physicians innocently waiting for the fruits of their investments—which never come. It is hardly necessary to mention the various stockjobbing propositions which are offered to physicians as too willing victims. Putting aside the mention of worthless mining and agricultural stocks, there is the more vicious type which makes the physician a partner to a scheme for manufacturing worthless proprietary medicines and patent health foods. No physician can ethically connect himself with such schemes; from the business standpoint they are never profitable investments. We repeat—Never. Is the doctor really an “easy mark?” He is not. The doctor is no “easier” than the preacher or—let us whisper it—even the lawyer. The professional man is not in business; he is not a “trader”; he cannot judge when a bargain is truly a bargain. Here lies the whole trouble; he is not suspicious—not on his guard. His attitude is one of sympathy with, not suspicion of, his fellow man. JAMA. 1915;64(15):1247-1248.
Section Editor: Jennifer Reiling, Assistant Editor.
JAMA April 14, 2015 Volume 313, Number 14 (Reprinted)
Copyright 2015 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
Downloaded From: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/ by a University of Georgia User on 05/30/2015
jama.com
