TYPHOID DEATHS AT THE HOSPITAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9021, 6 April 1888, Page 3

TYPHOID DEATHS AT THE HOSPITAL.

. . • . . TO TEE EDITOR. Sir, —The figures given by " St. Leger " this morning open up a whole volume of very significant matter for reflection ever dreamt that nearly one-half of the typhoid patients admitted two years ago died from its effects ? Why, this is worse than cholera ! At the period when this great mortality in typhoid existed in the Hospital, was the like fatality prevalent outside its precincts in general practice ? I doubt it very much. Such a death rate is unprecedented. This peep into- the mysteries of the prison-house justifies to some extent the public prejudice against hospitals. The public suspect, and with some reason, that a public hospital is. used as a theatre of experiment, and at the same time is made to contribute largely to the experience of young , members of the medical profession. This, to u certain extent, is right, so long as they do not indulge in the fascination of practising every new fad that enthusiasts advocate in the Lancet. This weakness is specially notable in the younger doctors. Your hydropathic correspondent has done good service in eliciting the facts given by " St. Leger. ,r Will " St. Leger," or some other competent person, go further, and tell us, who were the 40 per cent?. deatb-rate doctors, responsible for the treatment, on the year having this mortality. Can you, Mr. Editor, not furnish the public with more hospital statistics It would be a wholesome check, and give confidence, which is now shaken by these accidental admissions.— am, &c., Layman.