The San Francisco call., 1896-06-10
A CLASH OF AUTHORITY
Between the Board of Health
and the Board of Super.
ViSorS.
Who Is to Blame for the Alleged
Mismanagement of the County
Hospital ?

The Board of Health is dissatisfied with
the condition of things now existing at
the City and County Hospital The Board
of Health claims that the blame rests with
the Board of Supervisors.
At a session held last night of the hos
pital committee of the Board of Health,
consisting of DR.. Henry II. Hart (chaIr-
man), DR.. ]. NJ. Williamson and DR.. G. ].
Fitzgibbon, formal inquiry into the SUBJ
ject was commenced.
at is purposed to prove by this in
quiry," said DR.. Hart, "that the City and
County Hospital is practically outside of
the Jurisdiction of the Board of Health
and under the immediate supervision of
the Board of Supervisors. The Board of
Health has nothing whatever to do with
the purchase OF the hospital supplies. All
we can do is to shoulder heavy response
bility and make few appointments.
1.-The duty of purchasing suitable sup
plies devolves manly upon Mrssrs. King,
bunker and Hirsch, the Hospital Com
mittee of the Board of Supervisors. For
this reason the Board of Health is at the
mercy of the Board of Supervisors, which
gets all the profits, while we get all the
blame. 1t is often difficulty to secure re-
quisIte supplies for the hospital, for
which, in many instances, extravagantly
high prices have been paid by the City,
upon the recommendation of the Super
v.sors' committee, although the food has
frequently been found to be of a bad
quality and unfit for use"
DR.. f. II. Stable Superintendent of the
City and County Hospital, was then
sworn, and in response to questions by the
committee testified substantially as fol-
lows:
Il am a mere igurehead at the hospital,
and though / am held responsible by the
Board of Health for their quality, the sup
plies are ordered directly by the Super
vlsors. We have often received from con-
tractors decayed fish and potatoes which
were unfit for use and had to be returned.
"Requisitions for supplies are first made
by the steward. next sent to me and finally
submitted for the approval of Supervisor
King. II also says who are to make any
needed repairs. He awards contracts as
he pIeases. The favored men for whisky
supplies are Hugh IL Lynch and Seegele-
ken 6 Buckner. The whisky we are now
using costs 81 so a gallon, and is no better
than that for which we used to pay 81 go
We use some forty gallons month. We
also pay too much for our beef.
"Tne sum OF $500 was expended in re-
pairing the hospital which was In filthy
condition. and this was taken out of our
$4,000 appropriation intended solely for
salaries and supplies. We known cases
where inmates of the hospital ave been in
need of food, bedding and surgical sup
plies which could not be supplied because
Supervisor King did not see fit to sign
the requisitions until he was ready. The
surgical instruments in use at the hos
pital are out of date and useless, and
many OF the visiting surgeons will not
touch them.
1--WE pay too much for coal and milk,
The training school costs $1,000 year, the
polyclinic ward is third more expensive
than any other ward and our expressage
costs $500 year. We supply drugs TO the
Magdalen Asylum and food and drugs to
the pesthouse. OF the $50, 600 appropriated
to us we do not get more than $75, ,000."
Secretary Godchaux OF the Board of
Health and George Robinson, the steward
OF the City and County Hospital, were
present, but the examination of DR.. Stable
took so much time that upon it's conclu-
sion further inquiry was deferred and the
committee adjourned to the call of the
chair.