PEST TO HOSPITALS

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17964, 8 March 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

PEST TO HOSPITALS

Doctors and police in many parts Of England and Scotland have good cause to remember a Lancashire man named Joseph Howarlh, 25, who developed the extraordinary habit of posing as the victim of an accident in order to live in hospital wards. Howarth, whose parents live in Stonestreet, Burnley, acted as dumb when he appeared in the dock at Hampshire Quarter Sessions on a charge of obtaining food and lodgings by false pretences from Basingstoke Hospital.

Mr Blake Odgers, prosecuting, explained that in November last prisoner was found lying on the pavement in the main street at Basingstoke by a police-officer, who rushed him to hospital on the man. telling him that lie had broken his thigh by falling from a motor-van. On arrival at hospital Howarth was put to bed and treated for a, broken leg. Later, the limb was X-rayed, but the negative failed to reveal any fracture. Prisoner, who was' comfortably installed, was the life and soul of the ward, and appeared contented to stay there indefinitely. As he was about to be taken away as an utter fraud he told the doctor that he had been recently in contact with a small-pox case in Manchester, and by reason of that statement he received further board and lodgings at the hospital. In the meantime the medical officer of health for the borough had the whole hospital put in quarantine. The statement was marie on a Sunday, and all the people who had come to visit the patients had to be sent away, while operations bad to ne. put off. Prisoner had adopted this method as a regular thing. He travelled the country spinning the yarn about a broken leg and getting hospital comforts without being ill. He had imposed on hospitals in Preston, Halifax, and in Scotland. When it came to the point and he had to be punished, prisoner simply remarked: “Oh, well. I am mentally defective.” Of Idle Disposition. Superintendent Fielder, of Basingstoke, stated that Howarth joined the Royal Navy and after six months’ service was discharged. His parents heard nothing of him again until he

was receiving three years’ Borstal treatment. After his release he went back to Burnley and worked in the ■brickyard. In December, 1924, he married, but his wife left him after two weeks owing to his conduct-, neither his parents nor his wife would have anything further to do with him. He was of an idle disposition, and made no attempt to earn an honest living, preferring _ to impose on hospitals. He had six previous convictions.

■Dr. Wilson, superintendent of Mental Deficiency homes in Hampshire, stated that he had examined prisoner on November 30, and he behaved as he was now doing in the dock. Judge Barnard Lailey, K.C.: Posing as a'lunatic? —Witness: He stood and stared for 15 or 20 minutes. Later the doctor got him to talk, and found that he had no more intelligence than was apparent. Judge: We are told that he was the life and soul of the ward at the hospital. He does not look very bright.—Witness: I persuaded him to enter into conversation, and I performed certain tests. I came to the conclusion that he was mentally defective, as he showed such a marked sense of irresponsibility. One of the first things he told 'me was that he had been in Netley Hospital as a mental defective. That was a hopeless lie, and his lies were due to his being mentally defective rather than criminal intent. Not a l.unatic. Judge: He was sentenced at EdinburglUin 1921, and at Preston Sessions last August. Do you think tiiis

MAN WHO STAGED MANY BOGUS ACCIDENTS. DOCTORS CONSIDER HIM MENTALLY DEFICIENT. LIKED LIVING IN HOSPITAL WARDS.

state of things has come on Suddenly? Is it not a little odd that none of those people discovered it before? Witness: He is not a lunatic; he is a mental defective.

Dr. Campbell Shaw, of Basingstoke Hospital, stated that accused was a patient for several days.—Judge: Did you notice anything that would cause you to consider his state of mind? — Witness: He behaved perfectly. Mr Blake Odgers He bore his fractured leg with fortitude? —The doctor explained that- prisoner was popular in the ward as he amused the others. Judge: He was a good actor?—Yes, I saw him every day, and the history of t-he accident and practioally everything he told me were a tissue of lies. I think he is a humbug.

Dr. Smytlie, medical officer at Winchester Gaol, slated that he had had Howarth under observation for several weeks. He seemed very weakminded and not altogether responsible for what he did. If lie asked prisoner a question he would giggle, inanely. His mental state was below 7 the average. He could not tell the time, his writing w r as laborious, and his reading inadequate. Judge: The doctor from Basingstoke says he is a humbug. Is it your opinion that lie is mentally deficient? —Yes. Judge (to prisoner) : Having hoard the medical evidence, which we feel bound to act upon, we are satisfied that you are mentally defective, and a petition will be presented to the authorities with a view to obtaining an order under the Act. In the meantime you will be kept in safe custody.