Public health and insurance: American addressesNewsholme, Arthur, Sir
History
Public health and insurance: American addresses
Newsholme, Arthur, Sir
Health insurance -- Great Britain; Public health; Public health -- Great Britain
In 1911 the extent and limitations of the utility of sanatorium
treatment of tuberculosis were already fairly well recognized by
physicians; and it is unfortunate that in connection with the
passage of the National Insurance Act this treatment acquired a
somewhat political aspect, and became the subject of much popular
misapprehension and exaggeration. Disappointment necessarily followed
on the sending of patients to sanatoria for treatment with a view to
cure at a stage of disease when anything beyond ephemeral improvement
was impossible. The patients who, under present conditions, are
admitted to sanatoria come roughly into two groups:
First. Patients with limited disease and little or no systemic
disturbance. Comparatively few patients who now enter sanatoria come
within this group.
Second. Patients with more extensive or acute disease. In a large
proportion of cases within the first group the immediate result
of sanatorium treatment extending over three to six months is the
complete restoration of general health and working capacity with
arrest of disease. In a large further proportion of cases in the same
group there is recovery of working capacity and apparent restoration
of general health without complete arrest of disease.
For patients coming within the second group a similar period of
treatment in a sanatorium results:
(_a_) In restoration of general health and working capacity with
arrest of disease in only a small proportion of cases;
(_b_) In recovery of working capacity and apparent restoration of
general health without arrest of disease in a fair proportion of
cases; and
(_c_) In the remainder, disease progresses steadily with or without
temporary improvement in general health.
The subsequent history of sanatorium patients varies greatly. Some
of them maintain their health indefinitely on return to their
ordinary life. Others who have been discharged with arrested disease
ultimately relapse, even if they live under excellent environmental
conditions; and such relapses are excessive among those who return to
unsatisfactory conditions of life and work.
Among patients discharged from a sanatorium without arrest of the
disease a small proportion ultimately recover completely, but the
majority relapse at a date which is earlier or later in accordance
more or less with the conditions under which they live and work and
the severity of their disease.
The experience of the last few years has been that only a small
proportion of the patients admitted to sanatoria are cases in which
arrest of the disease can be anticipated; and this will continue
until the disease is more generally detected at an earlier stage than
at present, and the sanatorium treatment is prescribed and continued
solely in accord with the medical needs of the patient.
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