Doctor, Specialist in Women's Troubles

This title is used very loosely in the context of the time and it being part of the medical field. The character who performs the task is not particularly good, kind, or want to be of service. That being said, there were many people, Doctors and otherwise who did perform this service, and although they didn't always have the proper tools or training, did their best to help people. This story is not about them, nor is it a condemnation of them. Rather, this story is in part, about the women who would go to a person of that nature and the outcomes that they would have to live and die by. 
This story is about them. This story is for them. 
Although Dr. Lashley does have other patients, his primary focus is on women's health. He considers himself an expert and styles himself one of the foremost minds on "Women's troubles". Not only has he carved out a large and discrete position for himself, but he has also found that the relative anonymity he has carved out for himself allows him to practice without too much scrutiny. In part, this pays off as he is able to practice and often experiment on patients who are less fortunate. It also means the ones who do pay, have the benefit of these experiments on the less fortunate through the additional practice he has in his profession. 
It isn't till the events in Secrets in the Cellar that Dr. Lashley finds there is something more he is interested in beyond the medical field. It isn't that he hadn't already tried them separately, but the perfect storm of putting them all together. This event marks the trial of a new methodology and the means by which to practice it. From there it devolves. Although he shares his experiments with his assistants, the full scale of what has happened, and what they have witnessed does not impact them. They do not think in that way therefore the thought never occurs to them. 
The younger of the two, assistants, does eventually begin to grasp some small part of what she has witnessed, but by the time it occurs to her, she is embroiled in her own mess (Project SR).

Type

Medical