Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-03

loss both to the state and to the indi-
 The present temporary order of com mitment by one physician before a notary public is unfair in that it is only for 4s hours and also makes 1t obligatory that the hospital take pro- ceedings for commitment of said pa- tient The form of commitment ll should be for 10 days and should not make it necessary for the hospital to
 take any steps in the matter, as we should not be permitted by law to have any interest in the manner in which E our patients are committed.
 The big subject of this whole dis
 cilssfon a subject which will be op- |
 posed by many, is the matter of the |
 state paying to the hospital authori- | ties the entire expense of each patient
 there; assuming responsibility for the |
 support of each one.
 There are at least two valuable re-
 suits if this could be brought about: l. It would mean that the towns and cities would be more ready to send
 their patients to the hospital in the
 early stages of the mental trouble, the
 stages in which treatment is of value, and it would also mean that by ai proper law the state could receive full value and possibly more. for patients who are able to pay for same. We l have at the present time several pa.- | tients who are amply able to pay
 much larger amounts than the $2 a l week which is required, or even the $375, the present full amount of each one's support for week. I have in mind the case of a patient who was sent by one of the criminal courts I some years ago and who Is at present worth between $500 and $90,000 and
 amply able to pay more than the $3.75,
 as there is absolutely no one dependent I upon him and his money is accumulat- ing at the rate of from five to six l thousand dollars year for distribu- l ton on his death., There is also case 1 of a woman, a patient who is worth something over $10O, ,000, this having been left her since her original com mftment to this hospital, but by no l law of the state are we able to par ticipato in any of that income, except the meagre amount which is paid for | board, where the state should be the l gainer, because through the machinery at the state capitol, already establish
 ed, the bills could be sent and re- ceipted much more expeditiously, and the comptroller, with his expert inves- tigators, already established, could look
 into the financial surroundings of each
 patient. This is a law which, of course,
 will naturally need some study in or
 der that it may be perfectly fair to all townships and cities in the state, } but I believe that it would work out
 to the advantage of the institutions,
 of this have no doubt, to the advan- ] tage of the state and to the various municipalities.
 have not touched upon the question
 of expert testimony in cases where the l defense is insanity, as this is still a much mooted question and Is giving : the authorities more or less trouble. Conditions as they exist today are not perfectly satisfactory and unquestion- ably within the next few years some law must be evolved which will be constitutional and at the same time
 non partisan and unprejudiced.
 : The law for the commitment of the l insane should be so thoroughly de- fined that it would be impossible to
 commit patients who simply show the changes, both physical and mental, in- ! cident to age. It seems rather hard tEat men and women who have been honest, upright and good citizens should have to be sent to an institu-
 ton of such a character. It so often happens that the change incident to : this commitment becomes necessarily 3 fatal and not only from an economic I but from a humanitarian standpoint . these patients should be cared for in l some other way and the law should . be read so that we would be unable to r receive them. In such an event Tne ] hospitals would be much better able n to take care of the incipient cases of e insane in younger persons.
 j.; There has been for the last few n years an increasing inclination to com
 
 r and this, too, takes up the room which
 would be devoted to other persons. Ii = the state, however, established a prop y CT colony for such class of patients il | will relieve enormously the population e of our present state hospitals There e are, of course, cases of insanity whicf e have been caused by alcoholic excess q eS. These should necessarily be com. s nitted to us. but there are many other $ cases which are simply chronic drink. l TI11r chr hn fad fn : institution wherein they may be pro. 5. ducing agents and support themselves d The suggestions which I have madt V are but few of the larger sTbjecti ,e which should be considered. There ar, Il many small technicaHties throughout n the commitment system which coult 1t be changed to a great advantage, botl e to the patients, the public and tn d hospitals. As noted before, undoubt e edly the present commission at worl e on the revision of our laws up to thi h year will do much to eliminate tn Is present troublesome condition.
 70 Round Table Discussion. The Round Table of the section ol ss children was opened at g o'vlock. witt " Mrs. Frank A. Mitchell presiding. Tn ot program was as follows:
 le Public Care of Children Under Fou T. Years of Age, Miss Marjory Cheney ' South Manchester, Conn; Care o e- Children Under Four by Private Insti oI tutions, Especially St. Agnes Home s- Rev. Father John F. Ryan, Hartford n Conn; discussion, by Mrs. Leona S v Wheaton, branch of the New Englanr le Home for Little Wanderers, Bridge IT. port, Conn.
 The Round Table of the Section ol g. the Family and the Community wa ed held at the same time in the enter T. tainment hall with Rev. J. MacL. Ri CT chardson, pastor of the First Presby a terian church at Bridgeport presidine n. Eugene Kerr. secretary of Associate IS Charities of Waterbury, gave his per at sonal experiences and after renarlin is that the advisory committee held it at meetings every Tuesday morning sai le that this committee was his best ad be vertising medium.
 1e Secretary Kerner, c. c. Carstens, C D. Boston, spoke on the establishment C F. juvenile courts and Mrs. Rosemar Id Anderson of New London spoke on tn l. same subject. The discussion regard ic ing the improvement of our non-sup
 port and desertion laws was handle r admirably by Frank A. Arnold, proba
 n tiOn officer of Hartford