The evening world., 1894-06-08
NO CARE FOR THE SICK
A Doctors Story of Abuses of
Blaokwell's Island Insane.
Three fragrant Instances Of Death
from lnattention.
No Medicine and No Nourishment-
Brutality OF Attendants.

The proceedings in the investigation OF
the manne In which New York takes
care Of Its insane poor. which Is being
carried on by the State Commission In
Luiiacy at the Park Avenue Hotel, was
resumed at IL o'clock to-day with DR..
Louise G. Rabinovitch again on the
stand.
Ex-Judge John ID. Mcmahon continued
The examination of DR.. R~abinovitch,
who yesterday told so much about the
way the patients were treated.
The witness vas first asked to de-
scribe the clothing worn by the women
patients in Winter on Blaekwell's
her Judgment both the Winter and
Summer clothing of the women was In
sufficient. In Winter the clothing con-
sisted of a suit Of canton flannel under
material like canvas and a bingham
dress. Cotton yarn stockings, knit by
the women, n heavy shapeless shoes,
much too large for their feet. completed
Sometimes. according to the witness,
there were not enough shoes to 20
around, and the women who were with
In the wards, while those who had shoes
took their daily walks. Sometimes the
patients took turns wearing the shoes.
ohu thSh all eOt their WIKI.
In Summer the women's clothing con-
sisted or a chemise. a short petticoat
and the same bingham dress worn in
winter. The women were allowed no
carmen to clothe their neither limbs In
Summer.
DR.. Rabinovitch said she had never
seen a Bingham dress come back from
I was hard to believe that 1T had seen
the washtub.
The clothing which came from the
aundr was Invariably so damp that It
had to be hung up In the wards to-day.
The steam arising from the drying cloth
Ing. was, the doctor thought, dangerous
to health, She had 80 expressed herself
medium Of communication between the
STAFF physicians and DR.. Dent, the Medi-
cal Superintendent
among the stat physicians concern
Ing the msmanaEement OF the institu-
ton, but no complaints were made to
Dr.. Tyler or DR.; Dent, because both
The witness declared that DR.. Dent
made a round Of inspection not oftener
Commissioner Reeves brought out the
fact that there was no system by which
patients could keep track Of their cloth
ing sent to the laundry, and that every
The Witness said thai she had often
heard of acts of personal violence COM
mitted on the patients by the attend.
violent ward, had told the witness that
he had often seen attendants inflict
bodily punishment on the poor de-
Or. R%abinovitch was called to quiet a
patient. a. Mrs. Brown. She found that
an. attendant had been having a re-
ligious discussion with Mrs. Brown, and
was holding the insane m on the
floor.
Each member OF the medical staff, &C
cording to the witness. always carried
a hypodermic syringe ready to Jab into
any Of the patients who became violent.
She had hers with her, but didn't find
it necessary to use 1t.
DR.. Ty Ssa"e about "t' the incoRpetem Hs1 Of cf
the attendants. They were selected
from among Irish Immigrants. who
were qualified physically. but had no
DR.. Rabinovitch was asked concerning
the treatr emit Of sick patients; She said
was taken In childbirth shortly after
her admission. the woman was so neg
leeted that blood poisoning ensued, and
s neph aliee; the 1r witness Me:el fSo ssa r Sf seRS. aG
charge OF the case. and when the woman
died they gave chronic Bright's dis
For eight days after the birth Of the
child Mrs. Hosey did not receive the at
tention which Is considered by the
medical profession indispensable In every
obstetrical case.
Mrs. Hosey was not properly nourish-
ed. Weak. sweetened condensed milk
was about all she had from the In
stitution's larder. and a half ounce of
whiskey, given twice every twenty-four
hours, vas all the stimulant the woman
got, when she should rave had an ounce
every two hours.
The proper treatment was not given
the woman until she was nearly dead
according to DR.. R~abinovitch's way OF
thinking.
Another patient. Madeline" Rel. who
complained Of much pain and was plain.
ly taundiced, was not treated, because
DR.. Mosely, who had charge of the case
said that the woman was hypochondri.
acal. and only imagined she had pain
However, Madeline Rel died, and thu
autopsy showed that she had gall stones
n chronic p~eritonitis.
A case Of strangulated hernia, the
witness said. could not be treated sur
gically, because there were no orders
given to that effect. and only manipula,
ton was used to reduce the s%trangula'
ton.
The patient died from VIA the wit
ness thought was lack of proper treat
ment.
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NI,IE .a..nut nul.t A-ut