“In an article edited in Lancet in 1887, which criticized the diagnosis and therapy by phone, which were really exalted at that time, we can find a comment on this picture:
“The child lies desperately ill while the parents huddle in the background, fearful, helpless and grief-stricken. There is nothing more the physician can do medically to save the child. Why, then, is he still there? He can only keep vigil-watching as the girl’s delicate breath grows ever more shallow.
Now picture a different scene-one with the physician’s chair empty, and the two distraught parents clutching a phone receiver.” (Lancet – 1887; 1:230).”
Read the rest of d’Ambrosio’s commentary in Journal of Medicine & the Person on Sir Luke Fildes’ painting here.