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Last revised:
23 August 2000


French Canadians and Jews

A Fine Example
Editorial, Montreal Star, Thursday June 21, 1934, p. 10

By his self-sacrificing action in resigning from the position of interne at the Notre Dame Hospital Dr. S. Rabinovitch has earned the respect of the great majority of the Montreal public. The action of the internes in resigning in a body as a protest against his appointment left the hospital in danger of being temporarily without the necessary staff to care for its occupants. Serious suffering, even death, might easily have been an outcome. Dr. Rabinovitch, mindful of his oath as a doctor, elected to give up his position in order that the patients in the hospital might be assured of a continuation of proper care and treatment.

In so doing he administered a rebuke to the hasty and thoughtless action of the internes that will not be overlooked. He emerges from this most unfortunate and regrettable affair undoubtedly the victor in an argument that ought never to have arisen. He has set an example of fidelity to an oath taken that may well be held before those who apparently take their responsibilities much more lightly. He has lost his first appointment as a hospital interne, but he has retained his own self-respect and he has won the esteem and regard of a very large number of citizens who, in the ordinary course of events, might never have heard his name. The lesson that stands out clear as crystal is that a doctor’s oath is sacred and to be honoured at whatever cost to self. We hope the revolting internes will be benifitted by what has happened.

© 1999 Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College