Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-11-04
AcARD.
EMERGENCY HOSPITAL.
Annapolis, Maryland.
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peonle of Annapolis and its vicinity the
are vitality interested, the Managers OF
the Hospital deem il only fair to them
selves and Just to the public to make
brief statement of the condition OF
affairs and of the true reason Tor the
unfortunate conditions which for sew
eral weeks past have prevailed at
the Hospital.
The Managers believed, and were so
advised. that il was not only their
right. but their duty TO manage and
control the Hospital, and for good and
sucffiient reasons they notified the SUI
perintendent that after the end OF the
wear, which would expire ON the l4th
of July, they would not continue her
in their employment and requested her
resignation TO take effect as OF that
date. The Superintendent refused 70
resign, and the Managers, accordingly,
discharged her, to take effect on the
10Th day of July, 1908. The Executive
Committee of the medical staff refused
to recognize the authority of the Man
ayers, and the Superintendent, by their
advice, declined TO vacate her position,
and the medal staff refused to recog-
nize that a vacancy existed in the ONCE
of superintendent, and refused 70 rec
ommend any other person for that place
Thereupon the Managers employed a
different nurse, and attempted TO IN
stall her in the Hospital, which was
forcibly resisted, and an injunction
was sued out of the Circuit Court Tor
Anne Arundel County to restrain the
Managers from interfering in any way
with the Superintendent and the nurses
1.
all efforts of the Managers to run the
HOSPITAL. The Injunction case was
heard upon evidence duly taken, and
was dismissed by the Circuit Court
for Anne Arundel County. While the
right of the Managers to dismiss the
SUPERINTENDENT was not directly i'll
volved in the Injunction case, it was
hoped that the Executive Committee
of the medical staff and the Superin-
tendent would subordinate personal
preferences and interests to the public
good and permit the Managers to take
charge of and control the Hospital.
This, however, proved delusion. The
Managers thereupon applied to the
Court for mandamus to compel the
Superintendent TO surrender her office
and to vacate the Hospital, and TO sur
render up to the Managers all the
property under her control, etc, and
upon an agreed statement of facts the
case was submitted to the Court for
the express purpose of securing the de-
cision of the Court upon the central
point in controversy, to wit: sThe
right of the Managers to discharge the
Superintendent without the concur
renee of the medical staff.
This question was fully argued and
decided by Judges Revel and Thomas
in favor of the Managers. In a most
able and lucid opinion, the Court
showed how necessarily this power
must be vested in the Managers, and
left not a leg upon which the medical
staff and superintendent could stand
in opposition to the rightful demands
of the Board of Managers in the re-
spects above considered, and again it
was hoped that after the Court had so
forcibly shown the correctness of the
position of the Managers no further
opposition to their lawful authority
would be undertaken by the medical
staff and superintendent. This again
proved delusion.
Recently application was made for
the admission to the Hospital of Mr..
II D.
Naval Academy, pupil in Professor
Werntz's school, and the Board of
Managers at once made arrangements
for his reception, although they ex-
pected to make certain repairs to the
Hospital which would have necessita-
ted the exclusion of patients for few
days. DIR. Claude, Chief of Staff, had
stated that he wanted a written guar
antee from the Board that it would
pay Miss Pusey's salary or $50 per
week before he would admit the patient
The physician of young Bowdoin APP
piled to DIR. Georsge Wells, member
of the executive committee OF the
medical staff, for authority to admit
his patient to the Hospital, which au-
thority was given, and upon presenta-
ton of this authority at the Hospital
with a letter from the Board OF Mana
gers complying with the request of
the physician in charge OF the case,
the chief Of staff said that there We're
reasons which he could not make
known to the public, and which he did
not make known to the Board OF Mama
gers, which prevented placing Mr..
Bowdoin in the Hospital. In this state
of the case the patient was removed to
Baltimore city, and DR.. George Wells
rendered his resignation as a member
of the staff. Shortly after this Miss
Pusey and the pupil nurse, Miss Pars-
ley, left the Hospital, and it is be-
lieved have left the City of Annap-
oils. which act, in the case OF Miss
Parsley, is a direct disobedierce and
defiance of the authority of the Board
of Managers. 1t would seem that the
public interests and welfare OF the
Hospital should be placed above the
mere personal interests of the former
superintendent and the Executive
Committee of the medical staff, and
inasmuch as they have lost both OF
their contentious upon matters OF law,
before the Court, the least they could
do for the pnblic welfare would be TO
accept the Courts decision, and for
the sake of the public welfare recon-
mend some other person to be superln-
tendent and help on, instead OF inn
peding, the proper conduct OF the Hos
pital by its lawfully constituted au-
thority. From the foregoing, it must
be very apparent where the blame for
the unfortunate condition of affairs
properly belongs.
A trained nurse from Johns Hop
kins Hospital is now in charge of the
Hospital, under direction of Board OF
Managers, until new superintendent
can be regularly elected, and the Hos
pital is now undergoing repairs, but
aud in a