Reply to a letter circulated by Mr. Simmons, containing charges against the house-surgeon of the Manchester Infirmary [i.e. J.H.] Addressed to the trustees of that charity / [John Hutchinson].

  • Hutchinson, John
Date:
1804
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reply to a letter circulated by Mr. Simmons, containing charges against the house-surgeon of the Manchester Infirmary [i.e. J.H.] Addressed to the trustees of that charity / [John Hutchinson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    I. That having met here solely as Trustees of these Charities, this Board wishes as much as possible to divest itself of all personal attachments and feelings ; and to judge respecting the questions and parties which have come under its cognizance, merely as they affect the public, and as they are connected with the interest of these Charities. | II. That the particular charges brought by the Sur- geons against the House-Surgeon, do not appear to this Board to have been proved, so as to bring home material blame to the House-Surgeon; they having been in general traced to the Apprentices and Nurses, among whom with every possible degree of attention on his part, there will necessarily be in so large a concern, and amidst such a multiplicity of cases, some inadvers tencies, mistakes and omissions. ‘These the House- Surgeon appears in the cases alleged to have noticed and rectified as far as he could when they were discovered. Ill. That this Board considers such attempts as have been made by Mr. Simmons to lessen, or overthrow the respectability, or authority of the House-Surgeon, in the estimation of the Apprentices and Pupils, as highly injurious to the interests of these Charities; being sub- versive of that system of good order and responsibility, which it is the duty of the Board to support.” By order of the Board, Ae J. B. STEDMAN, Secretary. These are the principal resolutions which relate to my own conduct, and to that of Mr. Simmons; and it really surprizes me that in publishing letters which can only be considered as the vehicle of his present senti- ments, Mr. Simmons should, after such pointed deci- sions, still persist in saying, that I have ‘‘ admitted the’ leading points of his charges,” or that those which I pre- ferred against him ‘‘ are without foundation.” Such asser- tions can have no other tendency but to injure my pro- fessional character, and to reflect upon the judgment and impartiality of the Trustees; how far they are war- ranted by facts, I shall now proceed to shew: I shall first give a copy of my defence which induced the Board to decide as they did; and in the. Appendix I shall add