Life — November 21, 1912 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic by P.S. Allen depicts various doctor "types" through a patient's hospital experience. The humor contrasts different medical personalities: - A brusque doctor rushing the patient out in a "hurry" - An alarmist who declares the patient dying - A sentimental physician focused on "beautiful" aesthetics over treatment - A nervous, anxious doctor - One obsessed with absent treatments ("Mrs. Healer gives me arsenic treatment") - A gossipy doctor concerned with patients' personal affairs The comic satirizes how doctors' personalities and bedside manner vary widely, questioning what type of physician is actually most helpful. It reflects early-20th-century anxieties about medical professionalism and the gap between doctors' competence and their interpersonal skills. The exaggerated characterizations suggest no ideal doctor exists—each type has comic flaws.