Bennington banner and reformer. (Bennington, Vt.) 1903-19??, 1903-04-16
State Asylum indicated by the
Supervisors Report
NURSES WERE CARELESS
Report in Full to Governor Mccullough on
the Scaldins Of Insane Patient
at Waterbury.

Mccullough relative to the fatal
scalding of patient at the Waterbury
insane asy lum:
To His Excellency,
John 6. Mccullough
Sir:- The Board of the Supervisors
of the Insane 70 whom was referred
the matter Of investigating the cir
cumstanc-s connected with the scald-
log Of Mrs Sarah C. Bennett, at the
State Hospital for the IDsAne at Wat
erbury on January 81, 1908, which in
iuries were probably contributing
causes of her death, report:
That we have had a public investi
CATION at the Laboratory Building at
Waterbury on the 18th and 2Oth ulti-
mo-, at which time we examined IF
teen witnesses under oath. The scope
of our examination embraces not only
the immediate circumstances Of the
accident, but also the rules and regu-
lations Of the institution, the disci
pline and supervision of the . urses
and all. the circumstances whereby
such an accident could be possible.
10 regard to the details of the acci-
dent itself, we lind that it being Sat
urday, according to custom, the pa
tients we're to be bathed, and Mrs
Bennett was one of the number. She
was demented to that sxtept she could
not be made to comprehend anything
or understand even the simplest thing
she was resistiye in ali things and it
required two persons to dress or un
dress her; she was not inclined to in
jure anyone hut was TesistiVe in an
aimless aud purposeless way. The
bathing was begun about seven O'Clock
by the purse second in charge of the
ward, and after bathing iVe or six
other patients, prepared the bath for
Mrs Bennett and tested the tempera-
ture of the water with the thermome-
ter kept 10 the bathroom for that pur-
pose, and when the thermometer reg
istered eighty four degrees, turned the
bot water faucet tight; rs she sup
posed, turned the water off. But as a
matter Of fact, as she discovered after
wards, she had turned the faucet the
wrong way and had turned the hot
water full on. The construction Of
the bath tub and plies is such that
the water enters about six inches from
the bottom of the tub, so that after
the water gets six inches deep in the
tub it covers the inlet and the inflow
OF the water is not readily observed.
The nurse asked another patient to
help updress Mrs Bennett and yet an
other patient to assist in putting her
into the bath. In the meantime, the
hot water had been flowing in, un-
known to the nurse, and so when Mrs
Bennett was placed in the tub she
sustained burns sufficient to blister,
although she was in the tub but mo-
ment. The burn involved both feet
and legs half way to the knee, the
right leg the worst, and place about
three inches in diameter over the sac
rum; the physician was summoned
and the wounds dressed. Probably
from the effects Of these burns and on
account of Mrs Benefits age and fee
bic condition, she died in about two
weeks.
The nurse who was bathing Mrs
Bennett WAS twenty years of age and
had been a nurse about seven months ;
she had been less than a week on this
ward and this was her first experience
in taking charge of the bathing. Her
superiors testify that she was kind
hearted and willing nurse. The nurse
in charge of the sixth ward, which is
the hospital ward and where the acci-
dent occurred, is % years of age, and
had been in charge for eight or nine
days, being advanced from second
nurse on account of illness of the
charge nurse. She had been second
nurse on this ward four weeks and in
the hospital altogether 10 months.
She was considered by the supervisor
of nurses and by the physicians to be
competent and qualified
We quote from the rules and regula-
tions of the hospital, copy of which
is given to every nurse upon entering
the institution: "The head nurse il
each ball luust personally supervise
the bathing of patients, which shal
not be conducted during their absenci
without permission Another sec
tion of the rules reads: "Under NJ
circumstances must they delegat,