New-York tribune., 1906-06-08
NUMBERING THE POOR"
Coroner Arraigns Hospital System
Before Committee.

! number Of superintendents OF nospiIaIs
| throughout the city attended meeting in the city
Hall yesterday afternoon 70 explain their opposi-
tion TO Coroner Harburgers proposed ordinance
fixing A penalty of 800 IN every case where hos
! pital superintendent refuses admission TO sick
/ person brought In ambulance or any conveyance
or orders the transfer Of patient who is danger
/ ousy H.
Public Buildings and Markets Of the Board Of Al
dermen Of which Alderman Joseph Schloss is
chairman.
Coroner Hamburger. speaking for his ordinance.
spared neither the superintendcnts their inst-
tutions.
Il want to pay my respects TO the philanthropic
gentlemen who have come here to fight this ord-
which the corOners Of the city have put
forth" he said. There is gentleman here from
the great New York Hospital There came call
from a who dying II March
s. She taken in a New York Hospital ambu-
lance TO Bellevue and died Why. they ltll more
than five thousand people every year out Of the
fifteen thousand that are transferred from Roose-
Welt Hospital After the inquest made the
woman I referred to I made up my mind that
would stop this wholesale murder and butchery."
Coroner Hamburger then cited the case of Will
lam Cochran who died in Bellevue. March s.
from fracture Of the skull and aceration Of the
brain. He was first attended by a physician from
Fordham Hospital. March l. He was not taken
10 the hospital until March ?. Then he vas trans
ferred to the Harlem Hospital and then TO Belle
vue. where he died March 20 II was then he
said. the coroners recommended that the practice
of transferring patients from hospital to an
other be stopped.
They numbering the poor, said the cor
oner, vehementy: there people killed
through the transferring system than die on the
battlefield. But you have TO deal with board
of coroners watching you daily in efforts and
deals. You can't kill this ordinance you did the
Fitzgerald bill in Albany.
open your books and show of
wealth who has ever been transferred
As president of the Board of Coroners ] could
ock UP these superfntendents of the hospitals. and
then the astute lawyers you have brought here
could get you out If it hadn't been for this or
dinance 1 would have sent some Of you to the
Tombs'
DO you mean that these superintendents murder
their PATIENTS asked Chairman Schloss-
7 that they are accessories" said Cor
Hamburger
DR.. O'Hanlon. coroner's physician. said that 20
per cent of the cases on which he performed autop
sizes showed that the diagnoses were wrong.
l. s. Phillips representing the interests of Flower
one introduced oy Senator Fitzgerald at Albany
we base our objections TO the clause which
wonld compel us to accept any sick person 5rougnt
of the disease" said Mr. Phillips, In that
case We would be compelled 10 accept all manlacs,
not. Furthermore there is reference in the
these persons are 70 b. admitted; therefore n an
insane person were taken 10 maternity hospital
vision of the ordinance. and the authorities in
charge could refuse him. do not understand
the necessity of such ordinance. and what pur-
pose II serve.
Ernest Harvier. who appeared for st. Vincent )
Hospital, believed the ordinance impracticable as
private hospitals II called upon. would have TO
receive persons afflicted with contagious diseases.
as well as those suffering from ailments such as
insomnia or old age
George p I.udlam. speaking for the New York
Hospital said that he vas prepared TO state with
qualification that there had never been an in
stance where a patient nearing death had been
transferred to keep down the death rate OF the in
stitutiou.
Or. :. T Armstrong. general medical superin-
tendent of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. refuted
the accusations made recently that patients were
frequently transferred Bellevue to keep down the
death Of institutions which we're supposed TO
resort to such pracuces
Mr.. Lathrop, representing Roosevelt Hospital,
told Of transfers from that institution. saying that
in month there were thirteen transfers from
wards. while there l3e removals by their am
balances of patients calls TO the city hospitals.
which he characterized act Of benevOlence.
An adjournment was taken, and the COMMITTEES
into executive session.