The Duty of the Medical Officer
We have never wavered from the conviction that any one suffering from venereal disease should be treated by a medical practitioner exactly like any other sick person. In military service, however, an added element makes its appearance in that the soldier by his act has rendered himself unfit, and consequently must suffer some pains and penalties. It is no answer to say that other men have exposed themselves and have not become infected. The fact remains that he has by a deliberate and avoidable act deprived his country of the value of his services. And whilst the doctrine of punishment should not be pushed too far, he certainly should not receive the same general treatment as other soldiers, and the policy of his prompt return to Australia and deprivation of pay was in the circumstances the best one.
In the Venereal Diseases Hospital, Abbassia, the men were well treated. They were well fed, and a certain amount of Red Cross help was given to them.
Many proposals were made which were not carried into effect: for example, placing of the prostitute quarter "out of bounds" and the posting of sentries. It was realised that the immediate effect of this action would have been to drive women to the vicinity of the camps, and that it was impracticable. Another practicable proposal was made, which, however, was not carried into effect—the creation of dispensaries in the vicinity of the prostitute quarter, so that immediate treatment could be obtained. In many camps such dispensaries were established by the medical officers.
The essence of the problem was learnt by a Brigadier-General who visited a number of young educated men in one of the camps, and asked them for their viewpoint on the subject. Their answer was that which every medical officer knows full well: that many men were influenced by the appeals which had been made to them, but that a percentage have indulged in this way throughout their adult life, and intend to continue to do so irrespective of anything medical officers, chaplains, or generals may say to them. It is this fundamental position which every reformer must face. So long as a sufficient number of men determine to adopt this policy, and so long as there is a sufficient number of women prepared to cater for them, the problem of venereal disease will continue to be acute in every country.
The opinion has been expressed elsewhere that the world will not be rendered more or less moral by the abolition of venereal disease, and instruction in the mode of preventing infection should be an essential part of education. Because people are immoral there is no reason why they should acquire gonorrhœa or syphilis. If the lex talionis is to be enforced, the logical way to deal with the matter is to refuse treatment to all the infected, and to let them die or become disabled. But the most thorough-going Puritan shrinks from adopting so terrible a policy. One method or the other, however, must be adopted—there can be no half-way house. And if the decision be in favour of eradicating the disease, it is essential to firmly face and grapple with the problem.