THE TREATMENT OF DELIRIUM TREMENS CASES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13997, 2 September 1907, Page 7

THE TREATMENT OF DELIRIUM TREMENS CASES.

Sib,-Your extraordinary leader in t< s „ 165,1(! > headed "Delirium Tremor Oases, was surely written under a tot? misapprehension of the facts of the case. Yo are of'opinion, that" wo arc not sufficient! tar advanced in the colony to have'observe hon wards attaohed to our hospitals for th proper treatment of attempted suicides delirium tremens, early cases of insanir that are uncertifiable, epileptic mania, ani so on., I say that in any ordinary, dcccntl' equipped hospital in a modern civilisei community there is always (and it i essential) a special observation ward, witl trained warder*, where valuable lives an saved' that wo are content to let slit through our fingers year after year. W< ? ,t '° suflleiently far advanced, forsooth in Gods own country" to adopt' othei methods than obtained in the darlc ages, Wnon they chained their lunatics in the straw and mndo them a peep-show for lh( vulgar I Think of the sad case of Miliar— the scandal aftd disgrace of sencljni; r patient of the lcind to bo locked up lik< a Wild boast, when ho should have been getting (ho benefit of tho best medical odvioo and trained 1 ntirsinjl Remember, I am not blamilig the police or tho gaol authorities; lam satisfied- they did all in their power with tho means at hand. I dfl not bolicvo myself that drink had so much to do with the poor fellow's condition as morbid brooding over his state of health. You say patients of this kind should be Bont to Orokonui. Are you aware that treatment, to be efficaoions, should be immediate? A question of hours often makes all t.ho difference between life and doath. Ami lioW do you propose to detain them whilo waiting transfer? Still look them up, I presume, like wild beasts in cages. No; tho question. I say, must bo solved at once; and only in the one way, and that, is by an observation word attached to ttm Dimediil Hospital. If not already provided for, such provision should have been made in the new wing. Vi r e must be content to blunder and still blunder as long as wo follow the stupid. British, impracticable method of entrusting the administration of such institutions as our loekl ■ hospitals to men whose only cnialiflcationn arc abundant zool (I admit all that) and the rash sclf-confidcnce begat- of ignorance. I am, etc., Dunedin, August. 31. :M'kbicus.