Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-21
|DR. WHITE DEFENDS
ASYLUM METHODS
Declares Harmless Patients,
Not Lunatics, Escape From
st. Elizabeth's.

Restraint and close confinement Of
harmlessly insane persons may aggra-
waite their condition and preclude a
cure which would otherwise be posi-
bile. according to DR.. William A. White,
superintendent of St. Eiizabeth's Hos
to Secretary Payne. of the Interior
Department, in which reply is made
to criticisms recently directed against
the government institution.
The substance of DR.. Whites state
ment is contained in a memorandum
given out today by Secretary Payne.
1t calls attention to the fact that in
establishing the hospital it was the
intention of Congress to provide an
institution to give the most humane
care and curative treatment to the
insane. and that the prime object of
treatment is to effect a cure of the
patients and return them to the COM
munity as useful citizens. Failing to
do that, they are made as comfortable
and happy as the circumstances per-
nit.
DIR. White Tries for Cures.
Referring to the statement of DR..
White, the memorandum continues:
He maintains that patients under
the rigid restraint of close confine-
ment become FESTIVE. desperate and
violent; curative measures are neceS-
sarily largely impossible or in abey-
guards rather than nurses trained to
help the patients back to sanity.
Or. White points out that the
parole of patients is a distinct method
of treatment which gives the patient
an opportunity to test. under the pro-
lection Of the hospital. his ability to
again take up his position in the out
side world: but that care and dis
elimination are exercised in order
that the welfare of both the commu-
nifty and the patient may be fairly
guarded by granting parole only after
consultation of the medical staff, at
which the patient is present for Ques-
tioning and such further examination
as may be necessary in order to reach
an opinion.
''The so-called insane person. DR..
White states in his report, is by no
means necessarily dangerous; the
large proportion of them are only
rendered Ill and inefficient by their
affliction, most of those designated as
escaped patients being much more apt
to come to grief because of their in
ability to care for themselves than
they are to do damage to others. Many
of these, he says, are only feeble.
harmless, demented persons. who
have simply strayed from the grounds
of the hospital and cannot find their
way back; that it has been the policy
of the hospital to promptly notify the
police when a patient was missing.
not implying by such notification that
in the exercise of abundant caution
and to enlist the aid of the police in
locating the patient.
In looking over the list of escaped
patients published in the press. Supt.
White says: There is not a single
any serious harm to result from his
being temporarily out on liberty, and
in the regrettable instance of the
patient Hopkins it should be noted
that he at no time was OF OF the
hospital reservation
Ways Of Helping Patients.
Among the agencies employed by
the hospital to aid the recovery Of
patients from their affiictions. to
are classes for educational instruc-
ton. special educational depart
ment, including weaving. basket
making and toy making. vocational
training In bookkeeping. drawing and
typewriting; amusements, such as
tertainments, dances, automobile
drives, picnics, social affairs. athletic
instruction, games and contests.
These agencies, he says, are brought
to bear upon the patient for the pur-
pose of attempting to develop his
that he can go out again into the
community as q useful citizen
HE believes that such a program
would be Impossible without a parole
system, OF under any system of rigid
confinement He declares that the
hospital is never oblivious nor care
less of the public interest. while at
the same time trying Its utmost to
do the best possible for its patients,
and that there Is nothing in the past
record of escapes from the institu-
ton which warrants a feeling Of
panic, which recent criticism might be
calculated to create"