THE NATIONAL SCOURGE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7268, 26 October 1910, Page 8

THE NATIONAL SCOURGE

COMBATING CONTAGIOUS. DISEASES.

FEMALE MEDICAL VIEWS. Th© question of the Infectious Disease© Act was pointedly touched upon last evening at the annual meeting of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children. A paragraph upon the subject appeared in the annual report as follows:—"Your committee has watched with interest the proposals for the regulation of certain contagious diseases, and fears that the compulsory reporting cf cases would mad© the measure unworkable. It would strongly urge upon the Government an immediate and sustained campaign of preventive education and the establishment of facilities for th© free treatment of' such patients as voluntarily present themselves/ - ' . A GRAVE MISTAKE. In forwarding an apology for her absence, Dr Agues Bennett tnus refertod to the, foregoing“l should like very strongly to dissent from th© position the Society for the Protection of Women and Children ha® taken up with regard to the notification of contagious diseases. # I believe th© society is malting a grave mistake. For anyone who is daily dealing practically with the subject it is impossible to feel that any headway in checking th© terrible ©courage will be made until some legal control is obtained over those who are wilfully laying others —both adults and children—open to infection. It is not proposed to mak© the notification more stringent than at present obtain® with regard to consumption. If a doctor in these cases knows his patient to ba treating himself properly and minimising the risk to others the Public Health Department does not cany out the regulations to the letter; th© spirit of the law —th© protection cf others —is alone insisted upon. The law would not allow at present a person infectious from such illnesses a® scarlet fever or diphtheria to enter any house, and yet there is nothing to safeguard any of our houses from those infinitely more serious diseases. The first action of inflicted persons is to leave their homes and they fly to boardinhouees or enter domestic service, where they can hide their trouble 1 . I know, personally, of such oases in some of. the best homes in Wellington, disastrous rtesults. I feel that to deprecate a regulation giving control over such is indeed a backward step. I do sincerely trust that th© society will not publicly dissent from a measure which has received th© sanction of the best fitted body here to adjudge its merits —the British Medical Association. I am very strongly iai accord with th© other measures advocated by the society —the education and free treatment—and should like to ee© some action taken to realise these practically PARENTAL CRIME. Dr Platt-Mills regretted th© absence of Dr Ames Bennett, as she had fully expected th© former would have mad© tho question a special subject. As Dr Bennett was not present the speaker -would only touch briefly on it, because on© should bo very definite, and give a society like theirs statistics to enable members to see what was going on. in their own city. She thought it was very much to be regretted that a society such as the Society for the Protection of Women and Children should be against compulsory notification. They had compulsory notification of all kinds of infectious diseases —tuberculosis, scarlet fever, diphtheria. These all caused trouble, but not such as could not be undone. There was . going to bo dir© confusion. She agreed absolutely with what Dr Agnes Bennett said. It was said that some doctors had pointedly stated that they would not report cases. Even so, that should be no reason, for the society setting itself against compulsory _ notification. At the present time, although it was law that all tuberculosis cases should be reported, doctors did not report them all. and they did not get into any trouble for not doing bo. They chose their cases. Where nobody was in danger of infection no report was made. Only cases of phthisis in small houses, where there was danger of infection, were reported. So it would be with the other diseases. If it was not imperative to report, no report need bo required. Th© doctor took the responsibility. The reporting was to be dons in th© utmost confidence, and she had had such dealings with the Public Health Department that enabled her to say that th© department was absolutely fitted to deal with the matter as was proposed. She could not help thinking that if the women belonging to the society fully understood what they were talking about every one would vote solidly for compulsory notification as on© of the chief methods of getting rid of the disease which, as Dr Bennett had said, was so rampant in our own city. Of course, they must also go back to the very beginning, and teach the children in the schools. This did not mean that they should mention the disease, but they could teach boys and girls about it. They could be taught to reverence and respect and control their bodies and passions. Only in that way could they b© developed into noble men and women. She could not too strongly urge upon parents the crime of allowing boys and girls to go into the world without safeguarding them from temptation.

' ANOTHER VIEW; . ‘ The Rev. I. Kennedy Elliott- said' he was in thorough accord with what had been said by Dr. Agnes Bennett and Dr. Platts-Mills. Without arguing the question, he would' take the -opportunity of placing two aspects before th a ladies of th© society. He would first ask them to remember that tho proposed legislation had been devised .and designed mainly for the protection of women and children. Secondly, tho object ©hon’d commend itself strongly to the society because it was chiefly women and children who suffered. The legislation commended itself to him on those grounds, and ho would be surprised if it did not commend itself to them. Th© ladies were very Idnd and tender-hearted and forgiving, and so liable to be sweved by their emotions. He felt that h© must deliver his conscience, and let them know where ho stood. Ho was glad to have heard tho matter put better by the lady doctor© than he could have done. They could speak with authority. He was only a poor fellow, but could speak common* sense. (Laughter.) • : . A DIFFICULTY. Mr A. R. Atkinson said he had not mad© a special study of th© subject, but entirely agreed with th© sentiments expressed by Air Elliott as tc' the excellent intentions and object in view. ll© entirely agreed with tho spirit of tho doctors. It was really ti practical question. Efficiency of admin miration, must be the real test, and not their wishes or ideas. If doctor* wore told to make a notification and refused to do so, he would have the utmost pleasure, if he were Minister for Justice, in putting a few in gaol. If so doing would bring tho bulk of tho profession round to th© ®am© opinions as had been expressed that night it would b© a magmficent -thing for th© whole community. The trouble was that even- If they had the most vigilant detective in the world In charge of the administration they could not rely on being able to get hold of th© men who failed to report cases, because they alone had the means of knowledge, and no department could bo expected to exercise any check on them. This was where th© difficulty cam© in. If, then, the case was such that tho sentiment of a large section of the publio—who, unfortunately, were particularly concerned in th© matter—was also supported by a majority of the medical people, it was a difficult matter to saj how far legislation would help them.