CARE OF INCURABLES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14981, 29 April 1909, Page 9

CARE OF INCURABLES.

A COMPLAINT AND AN ANSWER. At the meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday a letter was received from the Charitable Aid Board complaining that a Mrs Blooinfield had been refused admittance to the Hospital until her husband was removed- from ,the institution. Mr F. Horrell said that the woman was suffering from goitre, and her husband and herself were in receipt of charitable aid. The man was not in a fit state to be sent from the Hospital, and the woman herself should have undergone a serious and important operation. The woman should not have been refused. The chairman, Mr G. Payling, said that he would defend Dr Crooke. The man was an incurable and his bo haviour in/the ward was outrageous He disturbed the whole ward and made serious charges against Dr Crooke. Mrs Bloomfield had not been refused admit tance. Under tho by-laws- sho could not be admitted until she produced a certificate from a doctor, and when she produced that she would*be admitted. Dr' Crooke had telephoned to him regarding the man's behaviour. Dr Crooke attended the meeting and said that he had not refused tho woman admittance. She had approached him and ho had advised her to obtain a doctor's recommendation. She was just complaining of a swelling in her throat. She had) sinco been admitted on producing a recommendation. The man was an incmrabl© and was really not a hospital case. His behaviour in the ward was bad. It was difficult to get the man taken from tho Hospital, but he should not be kept in the institution. He was incurable, and already there was a shortage of beds in the Hospital. In answer to- questions, Dr Crooke said that, in urgent cases, no recommendation was; asked for, but when the woman applied her case was not an urgent one. The by-laws distinctly/said that incurables should not bo admitted. ' ~ ' . Mr Payling said that the CharitablcAid Board should provide for the man. Mr Horrell said _ that the Charitable Aid Board did not provide medical assistance for incurables who were not eligible for th© Old Men's Home. The Charitable Aid Board provided food and shelter, not medical aid. An annexe to the Board's Home had been built, and when it was equipped it would contain eighty beds for old incurables, not j'oung- men. The Hospital Board had neglected its duty. The Sanatorium Committee had offered to build tho sanatorium if the Board would take it over, and a similar thing had occurred in regard to the Children's Ward. The Charitable Aid Board had done something. Mr Payling said that Mr Horrell evidently thought that young men were not incurable. Tho man should not be kept in the Hospital.' He was an incurable. The only thing to do in the event' of the man misbehaving himself and disturbing the ward was to send him out. Tho Charitable Aid Board would then have to help him. It was decided to'reply to the Charitable Aid Board that the Hospital Board was satisfied with Dr Crocke's explanation.