Judge — January 7, 1899 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This eight-panel comic strip from Judge (copyright 1899) satirizes an ambitious young physician's unethical New Year's start. The "Young Doctor Donuxtae" (a made-up name) desperately needs patients but has none. When a wealthy man ("Old Gortox") arrives with a minor foot injury, the doctor deliberately worsens it—deliberately freezing his hands and causing injury—to create ongoing business and justify expensive treatment. The satire targets medical fraud and greed: the doctor profits from deliberately harming a patient, then manipulates the wealthy Gortox into overpaying ("fifty" dollars, keeping the change). The joke's cynicism reflects late-19th-century anxieties about unscrupulous doctors prioritizing profit over patient welfare. The final panel shows the doctor celebrating his unethical scheme with an older physician, suggesting this corruption is normalized in the profession.