The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-03-07
A new BELLEVUE HOSPITAL.
"Should Active Measures in Regard to the
Erection Of New Hospital Be Taken :"
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE

we publish the following abstract of q report Of
the committee appointed to decide upon the best
method OF reforming the pernicious hospital sys-
TEN of New York.
To THE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE CHARITIEs AD
ASSOCIATION OF NEW York;
Inc undersigned, a special committee appointed
by your association to take active measures In
tall beg leave respectfully to report =
The committee met at the earliest possible mo-
ment and appointed subcommittee to represent
the different departments OF the subject to be con-
sidered each OF which has given Its earnest atten
uOn 10 the various matters OF inquiry.
. RESULTS OF INQUIRY.
Tne results OF these inquiries are based
a. upon information In regard to hospital con.
struction collected both In this country and
e. Upon comparison OF the Bellevue Hospital
S p ErSe w dd 0tner large city hospitals here and
tc.> Upon the statistics OF NOR tally furnished
~ the printed report Of the Bellevue Hospital
ta.) In regard to the matter Of hospital con-
struction IN general the experience OF the last
quarter OF century, and more especially OF the
period included between the present time and the
beginning OF our own late war; has set the whole
subject in entirely new lights. 1t is not too much
the Crlmean war, OF our American civil coniiict,
revolutionize the earlier and = most los Widely
accepted IDEAS as TO the true principles OF hospital
construction aud that this revolution in sentiment
mas only been made more thorough and radical
than military hospitals in London Berlin and Paris
No higher authority upon this subject can be
quoted than Miss Nghtingale's volume op Hospi.
pears tnat the death-rate In the stately quadrant
GUAR three and four stored structures in London
and other large towns of England, is not only lar
higher than that obtaining in the smallest and
cheapest structures elsewhere, but so high as
,s 70 raise grave doubts, to use her own
derived from hospitals at all, and to lead many to
think that the sick would have q much better
chance Of recovery II treated at home" These hos
m nj
sick collected under one ROOT, the deficiency of
space per bed aud the deficiency OF light and ven.
tLatlOn. The same TACT marked the history OF the
largest hospital at Scutari, which had at one time
$500 sick and wounded under its roof. of whom
TIME in hcs s so tens IN as the the or sn@s
although the SICK were without blankets,
without proper food and medicines. and almost
half what 1t was at Scutari During the invasions
OF France in 1sl4-15. the hospital administration
OF Parts. not knowing where to receive the sick
and wounded, fitted up three or the abattoirs for
patients. Several Of these buildings which were
Of the very simplest construction. had, fortunately
neither doors nor Windows and had the wind
blowing directly through them. AS consequence,
the mortality was onehalf among the patients in
the abattOirs what it was In the most complete
and massive hospital establishments.
With this general conclusion agrees the testi-
mony OF the most eminent surgeons Of Berlin, as
furnished by them in connection with their pro.
fessional observations and experience In the late
Franco-Prussan war. In word, the conviction
reached by experienced medical men throughout
Europe, almost without exception, seems to be
that large and intricate structures Of several
STORIES including under one roof any considerable
number OF wards, are promotive OF imperfect ven.
tllation, py@mta, and, as consequence, OF
greatly enhanced death rate among the patients
who are treated In them.
In our own country this conviction is, II possible
more general and profound. The experience Of
our own war and the reduced death rates in hos
pitfalls constructed upon what is known as the pa.
vlltOn plan, together with the acknowledged diff
Guilty OF securing pure air. even by the costly
methods. in any buildings of more complicated
arrllRemeut. n
general assent TO the advantages Of a simpler
mode OF construction. On this point the admira-
bic essay 0i DR.. Stephen Smith the principles Of
hospital construction Is both clear and conclusive
while the testimony of Dr. F. II. Hamilton quoted
by Profess, Esmarch before the Kiel University
in 1871, especially valuable Says DR.. Ham
ilton, speSs....s for the profession In America -
careful observation has convinced that all hospi
story buildings slsyaied three Tour feet rom The
M % ays had the
speas and IS that levers have BEEN less
ons snag As
several advantages over buildings OF two or more
Iyr@-They are more easily ventilated, and this con-
best
treat sick or wounded man Is always, other things
S When tins oous undersooa Suhes.
paIs viii cease to be the graves of soldiers ana
SssoadThsy much more q
IN aea q n T those less ho se I'm lofty in feeble
eaectpaly excluded from outdoor exercise as If they
OF ali the various modes which have been devised We
en heh e r 20 uera to
the entire length Of the ridge Of the ROOT when This
plan Is combined with movable base along the whole
ared. 'A'' " A'''''S "''' 'AN 0' o'
These principles were adopted in the late Franco.
principles Of hospital construction in Germany.
Already the experience OF the war is rapidly
bringing about changes III the construction Of their
In the year 1869, constrained by painful ex-
perience OF mortality in surgical cases resulting
from py9mia the Commissioners OF Charities
erected small wooden building for the purpose Of
trying the treatment of acute surgical cases in q
building not infected with py@mia; but no sooner
fever were crowded into 1t, rendering It forever
unit for the purpose OF treating surgical wounds.
Such IS substantially the situation at this mo-
ment Bellevue Hospital itself mas been virtually
condemned as unfit for the treatment OF surgical
cases by those whose business is to care for such
cases-the hurtlul ana often fatal influences of
hospital poison have forced themselves upon gen.
eraf recognition and the only structure originally
become practically useless from the same cause.
Add to this the fact that the original design and
arrangement OF the hospital is most lily adap ted
for the purposes which hospital should aim to
serve-that Its wards are overgrown and badly
ventilated, and that It's walls are saturated with
the poisonous emanatiOns OF disease for half GEN.
fury, and the unfltness OF Bellevue Hospital for its
present responsible work In this great city is pain
fully evident.
This unftness becomes only the more apparent
when the present Bellevue Hospital building is
compared with other large hospital buildings built
here and in Europe.
1t cannot be denied that the best Of these hospi-
tails detective in their construction, but there
Is TO be seen in the new st. Thomas Hospital in
a clear recognition Of the defects 81 Oder blaha
and OF the advantages Of the pavilion arrange
ments, though these advantages have been much
% opa5s Se S s Basu By the and Si s;
having corridor connecting the pav{lions
In Germany, however, particularly at Kiel and
Leipsic, hospitals have been constructed strictly
on the pavilion plan, and the great benefit of this
arrangement has demonstrated itself to all who
have seen and examined them. In these build
ings the ventilation is undeniably superior to that
obtanaDle In any other form OF construction and
the proportion OF recoveres in them, so far as 1t
can be ascertained, points to the same general
conclusion In regard to them as that which has
been reached by recent experience in two hemi-
spheres In connection with military hospitals.
In the abstract Of diseases causing death during
the year 1871, strange to say, we ind almost eX-
actly the same figures as In the report for 1870.