Sunday Washington globe., 1902-06-22
UNSEXED NURSES
Professional Female Nurses
at St. Elizabeth's
MASSAGE AND ADMINISTER
and Catherine Male Pa
tients-The Case OF Nelson the Dane
on the Lecture rable-The Build.
ings Going UP and the Disfigure-
mentO the Grounds Of the Institu-
tiOn by DIR. Richardson.


mentOf the Grounds Of the InstItu-
tion by DIR. Richardson.
The expensive fifteen thousand dollar
switch fro q the B. & O. at St. Elizabeth's s
round the ravine to the boiler house from
the intersection of the power house permits
of only one car being pulled and, therefore,
it is almost Of no use TO the hospital. This
is Or. Richardson's engineering. To have
employed a competent engineer would
have prevented the superintendent from
manipulating things to his own best i'm
terests For the first time in the history of
the institution the superintendent wife is
chief matron. Mrs. Norton, who for almost
forty years held the position having been
discharged to make room for Mrs. Richard
son. Ordinarily such a position as chief
matrou for the superintendent wife would
be regarded as most unsuitable to the lady
and a lowering Of the dignity Of the head
physician. But Doctor Richardson has
peculiar notions on this as on other sub
iects, such as the location of the new build
ings going up the Disagreement of the
beautiful grounds aud most incredible of
all the unsexing of the professional female
nurses of the institution
While mentally formulating the language
which will explain to the public in as un-
Objectionable a manner as the English
written tongue permits the duties required
of the professional female nurses at ST.
Elizabeths under expert" Richardson s
regime, we will briefly notice the location
I Al. l.
going up
In the first place the ground in front of
tl;e Toner building has been cut up and a
building is being erected ia front of an
eighty foot water tank The male and
female buildings follow the wall on
Nicholas avenue, the female building is
across the avenue on the road going from
AnacostiA 10 Congress Heights. OF course
th;s hui .1g is too far distant for care or
proper supervision and might as well be
located on Capitol Hill. There are no shade
trees and the place is barren and uninviting,
such as one would expect to find in a peui-
tentiary. The new stables are located near
this building and a good half mile distant
from the main buildings. The Inconvenience
of this arrangement would strike even an
Indian tepee architect. The old condemned
laundry building is being remodeled and
fitted UP for the poor old female patients
The gymnasium for the male attendants
is in this building while the plumber
shops aud boiler rooms are underneath
The millions of dollars being expended
IN these buildings would call for the most
expert supervision in any state or territory
Of the union, but it appears that Dr. Rich
ardsou himself selected the inspector and
discharged the competent chief brick layer
Mr.. Parks) under whose supervision the
present substantial and creditable structures
were erected.
The GLOBE gave the testimony of Mr.
BarroWs as to the shoddy nature of the work
being executed by the contractors with Dr.
Richardson's and his inspectors approval
The sand is being dug out Of a mud bank a
few miles from the institution, and the
bricks are being literally dumped into the
walls instead Of properly laid with mortar
We now approach the most astounding
revelation the GLOBE has so far been called
TO chronicle touching the unique manage
ment of St. Elizabeth's under expert Rich
ardsou.
There is a Dane named Nelson, patient
at the institution, suffering from a male dis
ease besides his slight mental afliction. The
professional female nurses are required to
this man on the lecture table, and
il is not an infrequent sight to see from a
dozen to twenty of these female nurses
around the naked mau on the table to whom
they administer 9nemas and he is even
catherized by these female nurses TO relieve
the bladderl While a few of them massage
Nelson the most expert one of their number
inserts the tube, when the representations
exist and the other female nurses critically
note the operationl Medical practitioners
Or students Of medicine will understand the
nature of the services performed by the
artists and the operator among the
female nurses and the general or lay public |
need only be informed that it is only possi- /
Bile Of accomplishment by women where the
patient is insauel Certainly no sane male, |
outside massage parlors advertised in the .
daily papers, could or would submit to the .
operation at the hands Of wOmenl
The enforcement Of this duty on the .
female nurses for 1t would be a gross libel f.
n their sex TO state that they perform the .
ask voluntarily is outrageous and uuspeak-
IDLY disgusting. It is perversion Of sex
.qual in degradation so far as the women
ire concerned who have to perform the .
ask, to any of the infamous revelations
which from time to time shock the public.
rhe task assigned these nurses is neither
modified nor relieved by the insanity of the
patient, insofar as the women themselves
re concerned Male attendants, nurses or
physicians have from time immemorial per-
ormed this operation both ia insane and
ane hospitals The innovation by Or. Rich
rdson Of ordering permitting or forcing
emale nurses to unsex themselves under
he aegis or requirements of the "profes
ion is an infamous one and we venture to
ay will not be followed or generally
dopted where clean minded aud refined
entlemeu of the medical profession are in
barge or Ia authority.