TAKEN TO PORIRUA

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 68, 13 December 1933, Page 8

TAKEN TO PORIRUA

Elderly Wellington Man’s Experience CASE MENTIONED IN HOUSE Complaint that the Mental Defectives Act gave wide opportunities for relatives to place a person whom they did not like in a mental hospital without due cause, was made in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. R. McKeen (Lab., Wellington South). Mr. McKeen quoted a particular instance that had come under his notice in Wellington during the past few weeks. The Minister of Health, Hon. J. A. Young, in replying, drew attention to the numerous safeguards in the Bill and assured Mr. McKeen that there must be* another side to the case he had stated. Mr. McKeen said the case was that of a man 65 years of age, mentally strong but physically weak. His wife had a certain Interest in a religious organisation, and so had his family, but he had no inclination for it. The wife conceived the idea of getting rid of the old i-ian, and one would hardly credit how it was done, said Mr. McKeen. She submitted to the superintendent of the Porirua Mental Hospital evidence that his parents and relatives had suffered from mental trouble, and arranged that he should be examined. Another doctor was called in. The questions put to the old man as a test of his sanity were absolutely staggering, said Mr. McKeen. He was asked: “Do you play cricket?’’ and his reply.,was “Don’t be silly. I am 65 years of age.” Then he was asked: “Do you attend football matches?” and he said, “No, I haven’t been to a football match for years.* “When were you last at the pictures?” they asked, and he said, “I haven’t been to the pictures for two years because I can’t afford them.” Then he was asked: “How would you like a trip to Porirua?” The man naturally showed fight as any other normal man would have done, and a policeman and an attendant from Porirua were sent for and took him off to Porirua. When the magistrate was‘asked to sign the order for his committal he went out and saw the man for himself, came to the conclusion that he was perfectly sane, refused to sign the order, and in two days the man was released. He stayed with friends for a day or two and had now returned home. The Minister said he had been responsible for the section of the Act that Mr. McKeen was complaining of. Formerly a man could be committed on the certificate of 1 one doctor, but now the certificates of two medical men competent to judge on such a case were required. Furthermore, the superintendent of the mental hospital had to make a special examination and forward a report to a magistrate within 24 hours. ~ „ Mr. McKeen: What would have happened in this case if the magistrate had not gone out? - • The Minister: Under this section the magistrate is required to visit the patient. I will be very pleased to confer with Mr. McKeen and go into the whole matter, and make the fullest inquiry because I am certain there must be another side to the story.