PEDIATRICS Vol. 4 No. 5 November 1949, pp. 689-698
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THE PEDIATRICIAN AND THE PUBLIC

AN OPEN FORUM

Editors: PAUL A. HARPER, M.D..

ON WITHDRAWING as an editor of the column, The Pediatrician and the Public, I wish to make some general rather disconnected observations which express personal views and may start thought and discussion. I am aware that the column has been under criticism in Academy circles even in high places, but I am aware that if it had not awakened feeling it would not have accomplished its purpose. Its failure to receive a completely sympathetic hearing from all members of the Academy was inevitable since the field of discussion is one in which there is so wide disagreement and which is so mined with emotion. If the column has shown a bias, it has not been with the consciousness of this editor.

What I hoped the column would accomplish was to provide a source of factual data concerning developments in medical care in this country and abroad which would serve as a basis for intelligent judgment and action. I also hoped that the column would stimulate thought and discussion. I believe that it has stimulated thought and discussion, since it has provoked criticism. I have been disappointed that it has not caused more discussion in the pages of the column itself. I personally have no sympathy with the point of view of some critics who objected because the column devoted space to experiments in medical care in distant parts of the world, or to those experiments precondemned by our prejudices because they were parts of a social system which differs from ours, or because they had failed to receive the approval of organized medicine, capable of frowning today and smiling tomorrow.