Civics and HealthAllen, William H. (WIlliam Harvey)
Science
Civics and Health
Allen, William H. (WIlliam Harvey)
Hygiene; Public health
Compulsory removal of careless consumptives is yet rare. One obstacle
is the lack of hospitals. In New York ten thousand die annually from
tuberculosis and fifty thousand are known to have it, yet there are
only about two thousand beds available. So long as the patients anxious
for hospital care exceed the number of beds, it does not seem fair to
give a bed to some one who does not want it. On the other hand, it
should not be forgotten that patients are taken forcibly to smallpox
and scarlet-fever hospitals, not for their own good, but for the
protection of others. The last person who should be permitted to stay
at home is the tuberculous person who is unable, unwilling, or too
ignorant to take the necessary precautions for others' protection. A
rigid educational test should be applied as a condition of remaining at
home without supervision.
The objections to compulsory removal are two: (1) it is desired to make
sanatorium care so attractive that patients will go at the earliest
stage of the disease; (2) an unwilling patient can defeat the
sanitarian's effort to help him and others. The alternative for
compulsory removal is gratuitous, and, if need be, compulsory,
supervision of home care, such as is now given in New York City. In
Brighton, England, Dr. Newsholme treats his municipal sanatorium as a
vacation school, giving each patient one month only. Thus one bed helps
twelve patients each year. Almost any worker can spare one month and in
that time can be made into a missionary of healthy living.
Family examining parties were begun in New York by Dr. Linsly R.
Williams, for the relief agency that started the seaside treatment of
bone tuberculosis. Many of the crippled children at Sea Breeze were
found to have consumptive fathers or mothers. In one instance the
father had died before Charlie had "hip trouble." Long after we had
known Charlie his mother began to fail. She too had consumption. Family
parties were planned for 290 families. Weights were taken and careful
examination made, the physician explaining that predisposition means
defective lung capacity or deficient vitality. Of 379 members,
supposedly free from tuberculosis, sixteen were found to have
well-marked cases. (Of twenty Boston children whose parents were in a
tuberculosis class, four had tuberculosis.) In one instance the father
was astonished to learn not only that he was tuberculous, but that he
had probably given the disease to the mother, for whom he was tenderly
concerned. Of special benefit were the talks about teeth and
nourishment, and about fresh air and water as germ killers. One
examination of this kind will organize a family crusade against
carelessness.
[Illustration: FIGHTING TUBERCULOSIS IN SMALL CITIES
New York State Charities Aid Association]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account