The evening times., 1896-10-20
NEGLECT OF THE PATIENTS
Charges Against Emergency
Hospital Authorities.
DENIED BY THE DOCTORS
Rev. Mr.. Smell and His Wife and
George sutton, Hurt in the Albert
Building Wreck, Make Some Ugly
COmplaints-Dr. Harrison's Reply
and Some Facts Developed.

IDe Emergency Hospital authorities arc
severely criticised by the friends of sew
eral patients who have recently submitted
to treatment in the free ward.
II is charged that for some time there
have been suggestions of neglect on the
part of some OF the nurses, AMI it is stated
that utter Indifference charactcriZcs the
treatment of the free patients. Even some
OF the doctors are implicated in the com
plants which have recently been made
public.
Rev. and Mrs NJ. Porter Smell, Of Ana
costa, are the principal compl ainants,
together with George sutton, the man who
was buried beneath the Kelley building
the night Of the big storm.
Mr.. and Mrs. Smell were friends OF
Sutton, and visited him in the free ward
at the hospital. They regarded his treat
ment rs SO improper that quite recently
they had him removed from the Emergency
to the Homeopathic Hospital, where, hc
now says, he gets good treatment
To Times reporter he told of some
of the actions of. nurses at the Emergency.
His story is corroborated by Mrs. Smell,
who visited him daily.
THE DOCTOR PRESENT.
Dr. Harrison was witness 10 sutton
story though the injured man afterward
tod Mrs. Smell that the presence OF the
physician rather intiniidated him, and pre-
venuca Inn telling some Things which lie
kept To himself.
lie was rather reluctant to give any in
formation at first, but sfterw ards said that
he Was taken to the Emergency Hospital
the night of the storm aud tor fully three
days he la Y on his co: With lime plaster aud
dirt in his hair aud his ears and all down
on his neck. No one offered to wash the
dirt from him and no one gave him any at
tentionin that direction.
Mrs. Smell corroboratcd this part OF the
story, and said she saw the plaster and
din. on him Wednesday,, the next da y, " hen
she called. and last saw him in that condi-
ton on Saturday. When she next called
Mr.. Sutton told her that on Sunday Miss
Simunton. the head nurse, came into the
ard and remarked: You do not seem to
have had very good attention. She then
saw that he was washed.
Sujton's injuries were not very severe.
HIS leg was broken, and Ie'. .uired cons ant
care, however, and, as il was put in 81 lints,
lac was unable to sit up or attend to himself.
The man complains oi Cne way lie was gwen
food 10 eat. Although unable tocut up meat
il was placed uncut in n large piece on
table at the side Of the bed, and the nurse
wcntavay leaving him To get itas best as he
could
At another time he said the thermometer
by which his temperature was taken was
put in his mouth and was not removed for
three hours The nurses, he said. Were also
cross and Indifferent 10 tleir patients.
NEGLECTED THE PATIENT.
He referred to an occasion Just before lie
was taken from tue hospital, when the
spIinis were about to be removed from iiis
leg. and lie was placed ON Il strctchcr
or ward operating table, composed OF uaId
substance Hc WAS placed on this table,
and the doctors and nurecs left him ani Gid
not remove him for three hours.
Once in the night he said, he was taken
very SICK with severe pains in his chest
and he asked the nurse to send for the doc
tor He was told that the doctor never at
tended the patients at night. The nurse
went out. leaving hIm to suffer until about 8
O'Clock the next morning, when the doctor
made a regular round of the ward.
The nl-treatment, Mrs. Smell said, was
not confined to Sutton. She said, in tell
ing OF what She saw:
'.In the first place l noticed an utter in
difference to the patients. Again, every
thing is SO dirty and untidy. Dust and dirt
covered The floor of the ward, and it looked
like il had not been swept more than once
a week. The bcdclothes We're dirty Look
ing, and general untidiness characterized
the rooms.
Some of the nurses spoke Grossly to the
patients, and did not seem to care in the
least for their needs. l have sat there for
an hour at time, and seen the inatteDtion
all around me. saw the patients call for
wafer, and the nurse would go off and leave
them waiting for fully an hour. onanother
occasion | saw IA bowl of blood and wafer
from one of the patients. 1t was on the
floor and was not removed for over anhour
after being placed there, right within three
feet Of the patients bed"
THE BABY'S FALL.
Mrs. Smell told of the treatment of the
little baby which was run over in George
town about two weeks ago and was taken
to the hospital, where its leg was afnpu-
tated.
1T was a hard task, no doubt she said,
.for "A nurse to attend TO the wants OF the
patients and yet nurse the little child,
which was not over two years old. But
there were some actions which could have
been remedied. One day the nurse took 1t
from the bed, with its little stump all
up. and placed it in a wheel
chair in the room.
"After wheeling it while the nurse
left it in the chair entirely unfastened
and went out of the room. She was gone
fully ten minutes, and in her absence the
child fell out of the chair upon the floor,
face downward.
II ran forward quickly and picked up the
little sufferer, who was crying with pain
LAT another time the child was placed ON
the o tIre of the bed, and would have fallen
to the floor if Mrs Sullivan, sister of Mr..
Sutton. who was with me, had not rushed
to its assistance. heard an old man, who
was considered as very i'll, ask for some tea,
and the nurse replied: My, you have gan
tn ask for tea this time of day.
st was this sort of language" she said,
(which characterized the treatment of
some OF the patients. At times, too,
when operations were being performed the
doctors and nurses would crowd around the
patieuts and indulge in unnecessary conver-