The Washington herald., 1912-01-13

gency Hospital: DR.. z. p. Magruder,
| former superintendent Of the Institution:
Arthur T. Brice, treasurer Of the hos
pital: DR.. S. Barnes Hooe. formerly a
member OF the resident stan; Dr. James
Dudley Morgan, a member Of the present
stan; Mrs. Frank Ellis, Mrs. 7. T. Gan.
DR.. A. r. Stands. and William Corcoran
Eustis, members OF the board Of direc-
tors: Maj. w. o. owen. Of the executive
board II Garfield Hospital; Dr. William
C. Borden. of George Washington Uni
versity Hospital: George S. Wilson. sec
retary of the Board of Charities: DR..
George NJ. Kober and Prof George W.
Cook, OF Howard University, members Of
the Board OF Charities. and a number Of
practicing physicians and persons inter-
ested in charity work
Advocates Cooperative Plan.
DR.. Carr presented number Of sta
tistIcs, showing the costs per day for
the treatment OF cases in tho local hos
pitals. and said that the cooperative
Plan OF handling accident cases is the
most satisfactory and cheapest.
THE Washington Board oC Charities
is the only organization OF the kind that
know OF in the entire United States
which maintains that strictly municipal
hospital can be operated for less money
and IN a more satisfactory manner than
one which Is run on the cooperative
PLAN" declared DR.. Carr.
In a strictly municipal institution
there is always the danger OF political
appointments, which are made as the
result OF pull and not the qualifications
Of the appointees. The cooperative hos
pital, an institution supported partly by
appropriation and partly by private sub
scription, Is the most economical Such
a hospital places the lightest burden on
the taxpayer"
First Aid" Impractical.
DR.. Carr further declared that the
first aid" station plan Of the Board Of
Charities Is not practical He said that
to take a badly injured person TO such
a branch hospital without complete
equipment would be both inhumane and
criminal
DR.. Z. P. Magruder, former superin-
tendent Of Emergency Hospital. said that
duringathe last three months 1,So7 had
been treated at that Institution. He said
that the average time consumed by the
ambulance in making runs during that
period was eight minutes. He declared
that no hospital In the city is able to
handle emergency cases as well as the
Emergency Hospital. where for years a
speciality has been made Of such work
The Emergency Hospital should not
be considered as a charity institution"
said DR.. Magruder, but as a necessity"
DR.. James Dudley Morgan and Arthur
Brice also spoke Of the work Of this in
stItutIon.
DIR. S. Barnes Hooe declared that the
Board Of Charities Is not competent to
handle hospital matters. as there are
no practicing physicians in its member
ship. He said that three Of Its members
are lawyers and know nothing Of medical
matters.
After substantiating the claims of
the Board OF Charities, DR.. William c.
Borden said that George Washington
University Hospital is centrally located.
and should, therefore, be made the
main emergency hospital of the city.
He said that II any money is appropri-
ated for the treatment Of emergency
cases It should go 10 a hospital which
Is a teaching Institution. He declared
that under present arrangements the
$4,000 annually appropriated for
Emergency Hospital is nothing less
than a subsidy for a medical monopoly.
Urges Control for Board.
DR.. Kober maintained that the Board !
of Charities should be given more con- |
troll in local hospital matters for the |
reason that the appropriations for |
charity treatment at these places have |
been misused.
During the past ten years more than |
100000 has been appropriated by Con- |
gress to pay for charity cases at our /
local hospitals. and yet during that time |
not forty additional beds for the poor |
have been installed. The money has been |
used for marble stairways and interior |
decorations, and not for medical pur-
poses"
Secretary Wilson, OF the Board Of |
Charities. closed the discussion with an /
outline Of the work done by the organI- |
zatiOn OF which he is the executive off,
GER. and declared that the plan which /
the board advocates will result in the |
hest treatment for emergency and charity
cases with the least expense to the
public.
At the conclusion of the meeting Dr.
kaufman said that despite the five hours
discussion there were still certain phases
Of the question which the committee
wished TO investigate, and requested that
both Secretary Wilson and DR.. Borden
furnish them with certain statistics be-
lore they make any recommendations.