On Monday the representative meeting of the British Medical Association
decided by a hundred and fifteen votes to thirty-five to release the members from their pledge to support the policy of the Association in opposition to the Insurance Act. The minority was mainly composed of London doctors. The meeting emphatically protested against the "discreditable methods" of the Government, and declared the terms of service under the Act to be " derogatory to the profession and against the public interest." A vote of the whole profession will shortly be taken by post to ascertain how many doctors wish to remain on the panels after the three provisional months. The Association could not very well have done otherwise than cancel the pledge. Bitterness and misunderstanding would have been saved if a referendum of the profession had been taken when the six cardinal points were modified and the question arose whether the pledge was still binding. But in any case a Government can always, if it chooses, beat and humiliate a profession. The victory of the Government is obvious enough ; but the very important question remains to be answered whether a victory of this sort is worth winning. For our part, we are absolutely certain that it is not Mr. Lloyd George at the moment when he wanted the enthusiastic support of the profession to aid the sick has altogether alienated it. He has yet to learn just what this very false move means to the country and to himself.
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