TREATMENT OF INCURABLES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14002, 7 September 1907, Page 5

TREATMENT OF INCURABLES

A MENACE TO THE HOSPITAL. SUGGESTIONS BIOMEDICAL MEN. Hie lack of adequate provision for treating patients suffering from incurable diseases is felt by many people who arc well qualified to form an opinion on the subject to be a matter that requires immediate attention.

The position is that the Dunedin Hospital is essentially an institution for people who can be cured, and not a home for those unfortunates whose cases are considered hopeless. Notwithstanding this, incurables are admitted and kept there, simply because there is nowhere else for them to go. The authorities naturally have a 'repugnance to turning bedridden cripples into the streets to perish, and so the Ifospital is kept full to overflowing, and. many cases which avo capable of cure cannot bo- admitted in consequence. It is stated that, at present patients iii the Hpspital are in some ease 3 accommodated 011 the floor, and quite recently some applicants suffering from pneumonia had to ho, refused admittance, becauso the beds that they should, have occupied were, in possession of incurable cases.

MEDICAL OPINION. When interviewed yesterday, a well-known mcdioal man pointed out the grave source of danger that lay in keeping incurable cases in the Hospital. The condition of somo of these, cases was in the last degree terrible. This was grossly unfair to tho other patients. There were cases of internal cancer, and though the utmost- care might 1» exercised, instruments used on these patients ran. a chance of being used on others, with results iluu cau be left to the imagination, The gcntloman interviewed also dealt with other hygienic details, which were equally convincn.-g. This would seem to prove with clearness that the Dunedin Hospilol i«i not the place for incurable coses, and lUbir admission and retention at that institution is not only causing complaints' in the city, but also from the country folk, who tire of a hospital where patients who can be cured cannot be treated becauso the room is taken up by peoplo whom nothing can cure. TIIE ONLY WAY. Tlio question then arises: What is to be done with these unfortunates? The public naturally turns to the Hospital Trustees. Th Hospital Trustees have with tho greatest difficulty at last been induced to take steps towards erecting a sanitorium for consumptives and a hospital for infectious diseases, neither of which is as yet in being. Were they now saddled with the task of providing a. home for incurables in addition, the probabilities are that none of the three proposed institutions would ever lie provided by them. Then there is the Benevolent Institution, which, it is pointed out, is, on Its own showing, partly a homo for incurables already. In the grounds'of the Henevolont Institution a hospital for that very purpose was built at the instance of the lato Mr Solomon. Incurables arc already housed and treated there, and one of our reporters yesterday was assured on the best authority that with a few more beds and 1 an increased nursing staff the Benevolent Home could easily accommodate all the cases of incurables that now clog tlie economic machinery of the Dunedin Hospital. Some of the Benevolent Trustees, however, protest against the institution being used for such a. purpose, declaring that it was intended as a home for the aged and indigent, and that such it shall remain.

DR VALINTINE'S REPORT. It will bo remembered that owing to an adverse report of a lady inspector concerning bedridden pationts being hou-vd in a gloomy and' unsuitable dormitory in the main building, Dr Valintine came down , to inspect. After conferring with Dr Closs, tlio medical attendant, and Mr Mcc, superintendent, Dr Valintine deprecated any further building operations, as he considered the site unsuitable, and hoped tlio institution would soon bo removed to a better one. He, however, made certain suggestions, one of which was that the incurables should be housed in the hospital wards, which were light and sunny, but which for some reason had been in some instances left untenanted, and in others used as dormitories for the old men. Much of the nursing was got through by the inmates, who were in some cases little better than those they nursed; and this threw an enormous amount- of work and responsibility on the matron, lire Mce, who, however, responded nobly to tho demand made upon her, and managed -wonderfully \yell. Another recommendation of Dr Valintine's was that a trained nurse should be procured, and Nurse Smith arrived. That lady found it impossible to cope with •the work without, assistance, and unless certain alterations were made. At a special meeting of the trustees to consider this it was found, to the surprise of Mr Gallaway, that Dr Valintine's suggestions had been adopted only as far as they were approved hj- the trustees, which, indeed, might be intended to mean anything. It was resolved, however, on the suggestion of Dr Closs, to make certain alterations in the distribution of inmates, and to raiso the nursing staff to four to look after throe wards and 46 patients.

DUTY OF CHAIUTABLK AID BOARD. It is urged that as the Benevolent Institution is equipped for, and has made a practice of admitting, incurable cases, it is the proper place for the incurables now m the Dunedin Hospital. The Benevolent Hospital building is capable of containing 64 beds, It will have a staff of nurses used to the work, and as the healthy inmates could bo housed in iiie main building, no danger need be run through contagion. It js pointed out by medical men that tho incurable cases cannot be kept jn the Dunetlin Hospital that they must go somewhere. and that that somewhere is obviously the Benevolent Institution. Attention is also directed to the fact that, tltere is no need for the chairman o! the Benevolent Trustees to object to the admission of incurables on tho ground that the institution cannot, stand the expense. All the trustees have to do is to apply to the Charitable Aid Board, who, having carried its point regarding tho incurable, would certainly not if° fc i 0 , 1,a - T to'' t ' lo ' r maintenance. ■Mr Gallaway is an ardent advocate 'for getting, the. hedoAfos Sst^soti

Institution, and has often ably championed their cause at various board meetings. AYhcn asked for. his views yesterday, however, Mr Callaway declined to tell tales out of. school, remarking that tho board were all earnest men, and entitled to their opinions just as he was entitled to his views, lie thought it would lie disloyal to his brother-trustees to say anything on the subject except at tho meeting.