The news & observer., 1905-11-21
DENIAL MADE FOR
WESTERN HOSPITAL
Director ArmfieId Writes
of Morganton Conditions.
.INDIGENT INSANE
Declares That While There are 400
of These Uncared for in Western Dis.
trict, There are Only II Pay
Patients in the Hospital. The
Allegheny Case.

cQltOrIaI III the News ana ODSSFNef OF
the 10th inst. under the lurid head
lines. 1T Is a Disgrace TO the State"
also your article in the issue of the
18th. in both of which YOU criticised
the management of the Insane Hos
pita!S of the State, ana especially that
OF the Hospital at Morganton. II is
the proud boast of your paper taat
it has over TO- 900 subscribers: if
this is correct it is safe to say that
you have from $4,000 to $4,000 daily
readers in the State and everyone Of
your many thousand readers, except
the few who knew the real facts
had the right to be Indignant at the
gross mismanagement of our state
institutions if the charges directly
made and insinuated by you, are true.
If these charges are true then there
should be a chanpe Of management,
from the superintendent. clean on
down to the sculleons in the Kitchen
suppose, however. the charges are not
true: suppose they are utterly with
out foundation; what should the peo-
pie think of d great newspaper which
without investigation. without learn
ling or trying TO learn the truth, should
charge honorable men with wrong
doing?
If / understand your editorials, you
charge the authorities of the Nor
canton Hospital with deliberately re-
fusing 10 admit the young woman
from AlleghaneN county as a patient.
after they learned of her condition.
Cl'here was no such charge,-Editor)
and that she had 10 be Kept in a pen
in consequence of their refusal ,o
admit her That the authorities III
Morganton after knowing Of her hor-
rible condition refused 10 admit her
and that the true reason why this and
similar cases were permitted to Ian
gush in pens or in jail was because
the directors, in violation Of their du-
ty under the law, had Disseminated
against the INDECENT insane by ad-
hitting in their places and in rooms
they oGght 10 have filed. rich drunk
ards and others who ought to have
been treated at i\eely and private hos
pitals. There are the conclusions that
Iany disinterested person would reach
iafter reading your editorials.
owe charged and still charge that
no insane person would now be in jail
or IN Il county home if no insane
were received at State Hospitals whose
families are able TO nay at private san
Editor.)
The true facts in regard 10 the
case mentioned are these
On the 29th of July. 1906 applca-
tion was received by the Superintend-
.ent of the State Hospital at Morgan
ton for the admission of this patient:
on AuguI, 3rt the applica ton
for her admission was granted
and on August 10th she was
admitted and is now in the institution.
Nothing whatever was known of this
case until the letter was received from
Or. Reeves III July. The incident was
mentioned by DR.. Murphy in the Raj
eigh Conference merely TO illustrate
5,;.. ;n;I
often not as bad for the patient as
being cared for at home by very poor
and ignorant people.
Your article furthermore created /
the impression that the reason why
there IS no room for such eases as the
che mentioned. is that the Hospitals
are crowded With patients who are
able to pay and inebriates who ought
to be at Kecley. In this also. YOU are
in error. Careful estimates indicate
that there are in the Western District
Of North Carolina more than 400 in
sane persons who ought to be in the
hospital. The Morganton Hospita
has been forced to reject 20 applica |
tons III the last 10 months. and yet
there are in the institution Only 81
III. tents out OF more than 1000 who arc
aEie to pay the cost Of their main |
tenancc OF $3.50 per year and only
- who are able TO pay anything. Out
of The 81 who are able to pay
amounts from $500 to $3.50 for their
support. there is only one who has
sufficient income TO nay the charges
of a private Sanitorium and his con-
dition is such that q private institu-
ton viii no. admit him. These fig
ureS which are official and authentic.
show that the directors at Morganton
have carefully observed the Law which
provides that lin the admission of pa
tients to any State Hospital priority
of admission Shai be given to the IN
degent insane" AS stated above. there
is only one patient at Morganton who
can afford 10 pay the price q private
sanitarium II the case of this one
exception if the doors of the hospital
had been closed on him. he would
have had TO be confined IN Jail With
all due respect. / submit that there is !
nothing in the Constitution Of North
Carolina which would compel an un-
fortunate man of wealth to be sent to
jail, merely because he was able tc
pay for his support at Il Hospital The
Legislature did not SO construe the
Constitution, for they provided. that
"the Board of directors NAV regulate
admissions. having in view the cura- |
bility of patients. the welfare of their
institution and the exigencies of par
ticular cases, and said board may. lf
there be Sufflclent room. admit other (
than INDECENT patients"
No inebriateS are now admitted to
the hospital. and none ever were ad /
mitted TO the hospital at Morganton /
to the exclusion of INDECENT insane |
persons and while this is SO. the Con- |
stitution which YOU cite and which i
you claim the directors are violating |
every time they admit inebriate |
expressly provides that it shall be the |
duty of the Legislature to provide forI
their education.
was based upon the untrue assumn |
ton that the Alleghaney woman had |
been knowingly neglected by the hos
pital authorities and that the reason |
why. she and others like her are not
admitted is that the rich and the in
ebriates are admitted in preference to /
the INDECENT, | think the facts and fig |