How Long Should a Nervous Patient be Treated?
The question of how long treatment should be continued in a neurotic case when no evident benefit is produced has recently been raised in a Hamburg law court. A medical man, says the Lancet, having as a patient a merchant suffering from "nervousness," treated him by galvanism. Altogether he galvanized him 445 times, but the nervousness did not disappear. Then came the matter of fees. The sum claimed was $556. The merchant disputed this on the ground that the treatment ought not have been continued so long, as it was not producing any benefit. The court referred the matter to the medical board, which gave as its opinion that the doctor ought to have asked the patient, after some fifty sittings, whether he would like to continue them, as it was doubtful whether the treatment was doing any good. The court, however, declined to accept this view, holding that it was for the patient to say when he had tried the treatment as long as he was disposed to pay for it, and so gave judgment for the full amount claimed. This judgment seems to accord with the principle that applies to newspaper subscriptions. A man must pay for his paper as long as he takes it from the post office.