RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29766, 8 March 1962, Page 22

RANDOM REMINDER

WOMEN LN WHITE

It is distressing to learn, in the overseas news, that the day of the electronic nurse is at hand. So far she is an ordinary, reasonably human nurse operating a control board to which her patients are wired. To check on a patient’s condition, she dials a number and receives an automatic report on temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure and so forth. There is the thought that a piece of faulty wiring could lead to the discovery that old Colonel Bloodstock, thought to be suffering from Apoplexy, is in fact about to give birth to twins. But there are

worse fears than that. How will subsequent developments affect life in hospital? It used to be worthwhile to lose an appendix or a length or two of tonsil to float into consciousness and And an angel with eyes of violet blue looking down tenderly at you. The trim ilgure, the cool, soothing hands, the engaging smile made the patient the envy of all his friends, who came to seem him much more often than they had intended to do. There have been many authenticated instances of beautiful nurses marrying their strong, silent

patients, and exchanging a temperature chart for a grocery list. But what now? If this electronic business goes further, hospitals will probably be staffed by female Frankenstein monsters. Can it be that patients will emerge from the operating theatre in the care of a robot? What prospects then of a man saying “Nurse, you have the most beautiful solenoid I have ever seen" or “I simply adore the delicacy of your transistors Who would want to marry a machine. And, more important, what about Dr. Paul?