The San Francisco call., 1904-09-01
* NEWS OF TTIE COUNTY OF ALAMEDA %
PHYSICIANS DISPUTING
: OVER CAUSE OF DEATH
Anti-Vac cinationists
Believe Virus Is
Responsible.

BERKELEY, Aug. 31.-Little Myrtle
Conklin. the S-year-old daughter of Mr..
and Mrs l. w. Conklin of 1919 Oregon
street, is dead. With her jaws locked.
from blood poisoning and her body
writhing i'm terrible agony the child
passed away early this morning at the
family residence in spite of all that two
doctors and two nurses could do for
her.
That the child died from lockjaw as
the direct: result of vaccination the
physicians who participated in the case
do not doubt, but they do not agree
that death was absolutely. unavoidable.
DR.. Frank r. Woolsey, as vaccination
officer for Berkeley. performed the op-
Grafton in this case, but he maintains
that the blood poisoning that killed the
child was not the result Of the applica-
tion of the virus, but of the unsanitary
conditions surrounding her home life.
! On the other hand, DR.. Woodson w.
Allen, who treated the child in her last
illness, declares that the child's condi-
tion was not due merely to lack of san.
itation.
The child was vaccinated on August
6 by DR.. Woolsey She continued going
to school until last Friday, when she
first began to show symptoms of seri-.
/ GUS illness. BY Monday. the child was
in such condition that DR.. Allen was:
called in, and subsequently DR.. G. q.
Ellis. The disease, which. the physi-
clans diagnosed as lockjaw, continued
J. to progress, however, until this morn
/ ing, when the patient passed away. DIR.
Aliens refusal to sign the death GER
tif1cate precipitated the. case into the
hands of the; Coroner, so that there will
be an Investigation.
My attention was called to the case
Monday morning" said DR.. Allen to-
day. Il found the jaws set and the
child suffering greatly. / telephoned
the Health Office to take charge of the
case, but there being mo response l
attended the child myself: Subsequent
ly 1 called DR.. Ellis into consultation
and he confirmed my diagnosis. 1t was
too late then to save the child's life.
| An effort had been made to show that
uncleanliness caused the blood poison
to develop. but in my opinion the
child's condition was just right to con-
tract such a disease after vaccination.
would have. been alive now"
The father. of the child charges that
DIR. Woolsey avoided his responsibility
in the case, but to this the doctor re-
plies that his responsibility ended with
the vaccination operation. In defense
of his action in the case DR.. Woolsey
says:
As vaccination officer it is my duty to
veccinate hundreds of children that come TO
my office. This child was one of them and
treated her with the Government-inspect-
ed virus the others. My duty ends after
treatment by. me is gratuitous l am not ex-
pected to keep track of these hundreds of
cases, much less visit them at their homes.
1t is worthy Of remark that Of the hundreds
of vaccnsted children this one child should
have succumbed to the operation. From what
l know of the case the trouble. was unsanitary
conditions surrounding the gri at her nome
Certainly the eanti-vaccinationists have no right
to claim that vaccine wholly responsible
when hundreds OF other children have passed
through the ordeal safely.
The public may be interested in the official
data of the case. The child yaccinated
on August and went with her school
work for twenty days before she became ILL.,
The incubation Of acute tetanus is within
ten days and never exceeds twelve days. hence
II is impossible the girl should have acquired
tetanus at the time of vaccination.
As far as my dealings with the
concerned / want to say that 1 knew nothing
of the danger to the child until two days ago.
when I called by DR.. Allen to look at
the child went. supposing that 1t was his
greater part Of the night locking for the
house. which / did not find. fail to see
jest how 1 was responsible for this death.
The funeral of the child will be held
from a local undertaker's at O'Clock
tomorrow afternoon.