The other doctors were talking heatedly
among themselves as Black Doctor Arnquist rose to his feet. "Then you
are claiming that our highest calling is to keep medicine in the hands
of Earthmen alone?" he asked softly.
Doctor Tanner flushed. "Our highest calling is to provide good medical
care for our patients," he said.
"The best possible medical care?"
"I never said otherwise."
"And yet you deny the ancient tradition that a physician's duty is to
help his patients help themselves," Black Doctor Arnquist said.
"I said no such thing!" Hugo Tanner cried, jumping to his feet. "But we
must protect ourselves. We have no other power, nothing else to sell."
"And I say that if we must sell our medical skill for our own benefit
first, then we are not worthy to be physicians to anyone," Doctor
Arnquist snapped. "You make a very convincing case, but if we examine it
closely, we see that it amounts to nothing but fear and selfishness."
"Fear?" Doctor Tanner cried. "What do we have to fear if we can maintain
our position? But if we must yield to a Garvian who has no business in
medicine in the first place, what can we have left but fear?"
"If I were really convinced that Earthmen were the best physicians in
the galaxy," Black Doctor Arnquist replied, "I don't think I'd have to
be afraid."
The Black Doctor at the end of the table stood up, shaking with rage.
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