The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1903-04-16
THE SUPERVISORS REPORT.


have reported to Governor McCul-
Tough the result of their investigation
into the death of Mrs. Sarah @. Ben
nett, who was fatally burr ed at the
Waterbury Insane hospital ON January
81, through the careessness of nu rse
who was bathing her. The affair is of
too recent occurrence to call for repe
tition of the story, but the report of the
supervisors is of interest and in all
probability it will set at rest the in
clination to criticize the management
of the institution that has been appar-
ent in some quarters
The report quotes from the rules
of the hospital as follows
"The head nurses in the halls must
personally supervise the bathing of
patients, which shall not be conducted
during their absence without permits
sion. "
"Under no circumstances must they
delegate their duties to patient with
out express permission to do so. E"
From these the supervisors arrive at
this conclusion:
ave find, therefore, that the charge
nurse of the sixth ward on January
81, violated the rules of the hospital
and was derelict i'll that, while she was
on the ward and in charge she per-
mitted second nurse to supervise
bathing patient. We find that the
second nurse, who was bathing Mrs.
Bennett at the time the accident
occurred, violated the rules in super
vising bathing while the charge nurse
was on the ward and, also, in calling
upon other patients to assist. "
With regard to the supervision of
the hospital the report says that a reg
ular system of daily reports covering
the work of the nurses and physicians
is employed, and that the proportion of
nurses to patients is probably suffi-
cient
Continuing the report says "We
find the hospital at all times clean and
patients are receiving good care and
kind treatment. There are at all times
over five hundred patients in this hos
pital, and there are from six hundred
to eight hundred baths given every
week so that the greatest care is neces-
sary to prevent accidents Of this kind
and other kinds as we'll, especially
when we consider the character of
ha xyhn 1rrpgnnnS1 hlp
and many of whom seek thousands OF
ways to do irrational and unexpected
things, and many also, who in their
insane violence are destructive, homi-
cidal and suicidal In an institution
of this character eternal vigilance is
the price of safety"
The only recommendation made con-
Germs the system of plumbing in con-
nection with the bath tubs, and is as
follows:
"In view of a recurrence OF such
accidents, we would recommend that
a change be made in the plumbing of
all the bath rooms of the hospital.
According to the present arrangement
the hot and cold water is controlled
by separate faucets situated about IL
inches from the floor on the outside
and at the foot of the tub and both
the hot and cold water enter the tub
about six inches from the bottom
through single opening protected by
convex perforated metal button.
We would recommend that the faucets
be so constructed that they can be
opened and closed only by the means
of key, and that the charge nurse
and no other be possessed OF key.
And we would also recommend that
the water be made to enter over the
top at the foot of the tub and be pro-
tected over the tops by metal hood
with a semi circular wire netting with
a one-half inch mesh, extending from
the hood to the bottom of the tub and
secured and fastened to the tub. By
this arrangement none but the charge
nurse could supervise bathing unless
the key was given up to another per-
son. The patients could not turn the
faucets, nor could they get injured on
the pipes as they projected over the
top of the tub, being protected by the
metal hood, nor get burned by inflow
ing hot water, being protected by the
wire screen. The flow of either hot
or cold water would at all times be in
plain sight thus adding the most i'm
portant safeguard.
In their report the supervisors have
conspicuously omitted any attempt
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