INTERFERENCE WITH PHYSICIANS. Great latitude is allowed by the community in interfering with the practice of physicians. It is the object of this chapter to point out some of the ways in which this interference is exercised, and some of the injurious consequences which result from it. Sometimes the confidence which one feels in his own physician leads him to put a low estimate upon the merits of other physicians and to attempt to destroy the hold which they have upon the confidence of their employers. Though this is very common, it is a most unjustifiable interference. While it is right that every one should be attached to the physician who has done well for him and his family in their sickness, this furnishes no ground for disparaging the physician to whom another is attached, perhaps for just as good reasons. He may sincerely believe that his friend has misplaced his confidence. But let him ask himself, am I sure—do I _know_, that it is so? Have I the data on which I can properly base such an opinion? Am I competent to judge of the comparative merits of the two physicians from observing their practice? If every one, who is tempted by a mere preference, or by pride of opinion to practice the interference referred to, should put to himself such questions as these, he would at least be less positive in his opinions, and less zealous in his efforts to unsettle the confidence of others in the physicians whom they employ. Let me not be understood to mean that interference is proper in no case whatever. There are cases, in which it is not only allowable, but it is even an imperative duty. If you see a friend confiding in a quack, or an unskilful and ignorant practitioner, it is your duty to persuade him to relinquish such a misplaced confidence. But you must remember that the evidence upon which you act should be clear and satisfactory, and that no mere preference can justify such an interference, however strong that preference may be. So also, if you have a friend, who trusts his own life and that of his family in the hands of an intemperate practitioner, it is a case which calls loudly for the warnings of friendship. But in this case, you must have better evidence of the fact, upon which your advice is based, than mere suspicion, or vague reports.