Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-16
WILL INCLUDE ALL
tuberculosis Hospital Not
Only One to Be Investigated.
GENERAL INQUIRY TO COME
Action Not Intended as Reflection
on the Institutions.
CHARGES BEFORE COMMITTEE
Mrs. Medill Mccormick Arraigns
Management of Hospital for
Consumptives.
GENERAL INQUIRY TO COME
CHARGES BEFORE COMMITTEE

All the hospitals of Washington i'm
which the government spends it's money
for the care of INDECENT patients are to
he included in the congressional investi-
cation which the House District commit
tee. through a subcommittee has begun
IN the District tuberculosis Hospital, &C
cording to a statement made by Repre-
sentative Dyer of Missouri at a hearing
granted on the tuberculosis Hospital yes
terday afternoon.
Mr.. Dyer stated that the investigation
of the tuberculosis Hospital. must not be
considered reflection upon that institu-
iion, but that it was merely a part of the
thorough investigation into all branches
and departments of the District govern
ment which was begun last summer
The same, he said, would be true of any
future Investigations which might be
made of the other hospitals 1t is un-
derstood that the Washington Asylum
Hospital which has been described by
many persons as highly inadequate. will
be one of the first to be investigated by
the committee.
At the hearing yesterday Mrs. Medill
Mccormick, president of the women s
welfare department of the National Civic
Federation, presented in detail her
charges of mismanagement against the
tuberculosis Hospital. Other women who
appeared with Mrs. Mccormick to bear
witness regarding the management of the
hospital were Mrs. A. F. Gardner. wife of
Representative Gardner of Massachusetts,;
Mrs. Nicholas Longworth. wife of Repre-
sentative Longworth; Mrs. John Nc
Laughlin, Mrs. j. Nota McGill, Mrs.
Franklin Ellis and Mrs. Thomas L. Gaff.
ON the other hand. Dr. George E. ko-
Der. vice president of the board of chart
ties; Dr. William d. Tewksbury, superin-
tendent of the Tuberculosis Hospital, and
George Wilson, secretary of the board of
charities, defended the management
Mrs. McCormick's Charges.
Mrs McCormick's criticisms of the hos
pital resolved themselves into the follow
ing: That scrubbing brushes were used
TO clean the floors instead of vacuum
cleaners; that the bed linen was not as
clean as it should be in hospital; that
dying patients were allowed to go through
their last sufferings in the presence OF
others: that the dining room was untidy,
the table linen unclean and the serving
sloppy; that she found their brushes
aud false hair on the window sill in the
kitchen and clothing hanging in that
room; that the milk for the patients was
kept in, rusty old can which did not
look clean. that the milk supplied the pa
tleHIS was not. Oh Ine pest, Iifdl COlu SIuf-
age eggs were furnished the patients dur
ing several months of the year, instead
OF fresh eggs the year round. and that
the operating and drug rooms were dusty
and dirty.
Mrs Mccormick said she had been told
number of stories about the bad man
agement of the hospital and inattention to
patients, but that she had no personal
knowledge of these charges other than
that contained in her statement of her
Wei with Mrs Mc{3iIi n the hOcnlfai,
She told the committee she would write
to the persons who had given her this
information and ask permission to give
their names to the committee.
During her visit to. the hospital last
February, said Mrs. Mccormick, she
found two patients dying in a small room,
Their beds almost touching. She said that
at least a screen. should haye been placed
between them. if they. could not have
been placed in separate rooms She told
of a man and his wife who had come to
Washington more than year ago. the
wife suffering from tuberculosis She was
taken to the hospital. and the husband
called to see his wife the next day He
was told that it was not visiting day and
that he could not see her Two days later
he returned OH the visiting day and found
that his wife had died two days before.
Patients Did Not Complain.
Mrs Mccormick said that she had
hospital and none Of them had made any
complaints against their treatment. She
said that the kitchen had mot seemed
very dirty that the cook appeared eff
fcient and the food prepared was appar-
emily good She urged that the milk be
sent 10 the hospitals in bottles to be given
TO the patients intact She also declared
that cold storage eggs should not be
used at any time in tuberculosis hOSpi-
"A a T.
Of the diet. She said she knew that fresh
eggs could be procured the year round,
and mentioned that large number of
dozens are produced at her own chicken
farm in Ohio. Mrs. Mccormick. declared
rtiat the bath Tobes which many of. the
PATIENTS were wearing. were. anything
bTt clean.
She criticised the construction of the
hospital. saying that the ward plan for
tuberculosis patients Was very bad. and
that il was wrong to put patients in the
incipient stages of the disease in the same
room with patients who had well develop
ed cases.
DR. kober asked Mrs Mccormick why
She had not first called the attention to
the board of charities, which has charge
Of the hospital. to the mismanagement
which she found there, in an effort to
secure remedial measures before letting
fine criticisms. get into the newspapers.
So much publicity has done irreparable
harm" said DR. Rober, $50 much harm
that il will be very difficult to persuade
patients to come to the hospital" ;.
Has Not Sought Publicity.
Mrs. Mccormick said she and the other
ladies had not sought publicity, but that
the Newspapers had taken hold of the
matter and played it up She stated
that long before the matter became public
She had attended a meeting of the board
Of governors OF the Associated Charities
of which both she and DIR. kober were
members. and that at that time she ha6
ibid. DIR kober in no uncertain term:
What She thought about the hospital no.
knowing of his connection with the boar
of charities. He had promised to speai
to the superintendent, and had done so.
Mrs john Mclaughlin. who has taker
prominent part in the management o