Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-03-03
MOVE IN CARE
OF the INSANE
Change In Established Gus
tom OF Commitment.
COMMISSION PLAN IN USE

Effort to Remove from the General
Public ats Medieval Superstition
that Insanity Is Disgrace"-Con1-
mission Plan Recommended by w. C.
Graves, Executive Officer of the H.
Iinois State Board of Charities-Ad-
vance in Modern Treatment.
Sprin gfeld, ILL.,, March Insane pa
TENTS in Cook county hereafter are tc
be committed to state hospitals by the
medical commission method, and
throughout the state county judges are
to be urged to use it more extensively
in dealing with such cases, where a
jury trial is not asked for.
The change in the established Gus
tom has been brought about through
the plea of the state board of charities
and other agencies, which have beer
engaged for several years in an effort
to remove from the general public Its
medieval superstition that insanity is
a disgrace"
To Get Thorough Trial.
ker of Chicago, after a conference with
representatives Of the state board Of
charities and eminent medical men on
Feb. 10 last, to give the medical COM
mission plan a thorough trial is re-
garded by experts as one of the mos
important advances yet made in the
modern treatment of insanity as dis
ease which, like every other disease,
should be attacked with vigor in its in
cipient stage, before the mental or
nervous storm bursts, and, perhaps
causes irreparable havoc"
Judge Rinaker's consent to try the
medical commission plan is deemed so
important that w. G. Graves, executive
officer of the state board of charities,
has written for the forthcoming March
number of the Illinois Medical Journal
an exhaustive and detailed account of
the conference and the significance Of
it's results.
Three Methods Provided by Law.
The law provides in insane cases,
not of criminal character, three meth
DDS of commitment-the voluntary
where the patient realizes his need OF
treatment and so tells the court and is
committed; the jury system by which
a jury of citizens pass on the question
of his sanity and if a verdict of insan-
ity is returned the judge signs the pa
pers; the medical commission plan ~
which two physicians. appointed BY rhs
court, make the investigation and il
quiry and on their report the cou-
acts.
Writing on the third. Graves says:
''The urgent necessity for the COM
mission plan of commitment is appar-
ent when one realizes that insane per-
sons are sick. Isn't it repugnant to al
ideas of humanity, prudence and de-
icacy, that a sick woman should bs
tried, in public, before jury, FIVE
sixth laymen, somewhat after tia
manner of the thief and the murderer,
before she can avail herself of whas
frequently in the desperate necessity
for quiet and medical treatment"
Thirty Days Instead of Ten.
After considering at length the val
Gus ways through which physical :
may act when confronted by a case :
incipient insanity, Graves makes recon.
mendations to the general assembly &c :
modification Of the law of lunacy, pro-
vidirg thirty days instead of ten il
which to iudicially determine the pa
TENTS mental condition.
He says on this subject:
Gas step to a more humane recog-
milton of insanity as physical disease
requiring the opinion and service O.
physicians, the state board of charities
recommends to the Forty-sixth general
assembly that the so-called 'lunacy act
be amended in section 2 to permit the
detention of an alleged lunatic, for a
reasonable time, not exceeding thirty
days. pending a judicial investigation
of his mental condition. instead Of ten
days. as the law now reads. The great
majority of perpIexing cases can be
diagnosed within thirty days"