The Connecticut labor news., 1921-07-22
TO OPEN WARDS IN GENERAL HOSPITALS FOR "T. B." PATIENTS Government Health Bureau Planning g Big Attack Against White
 Plague.

The opening of wards i'll general hos pltalS for tuberCulOuS patients, as reCOm- mcndcd by the American Medical ASSO- citation at its recent annual meeting in Boston, will, it is believed by the U. $. Public Health Service, be of enormous benefit not only to most of the two mil lion nOWn victims of the disease in the United States but also to thousands of others i'll whom the disease Is incipient and easily suppreSsible, if promptly treated. Tuberculosis ill this stage is difficult and often impossible of positive diagnosis, even by all expert; and many
 persons, even when told by their family
 doctor that thlr case IS "susPlclous and that hey should take precautionary
 treatment, tear the stigma of an aVoWed
 tuberculosis hospital and put off action until recovery has become long and diff lcult, In q general hospital the diag-
 nOsis will not be made public and the
 family will not be embarrassed but at the same time all necessary precautions can be taken to avoid danger of infec
 ton to others.
 The resolution was prepared and rec commended by the National Tuberculosis Association i'll 1910; it's approval now by the American Medical Association shows a very mared change i'll medical seai- Ment.
 Ill support of the new policy it is ar gued that Ill many small cities two hos pltals, one general and one tuberculous, can be run only at a loss, but if com b1ned, would pay operating expenses, es- pec1ally as the combined hospital would draw many secret tuberculous cases. Many general hospitals could easily en- large their facilities by fitting up wards. roofs, porches, and unused open-air space and thus provide greatly needed space Tor tuDerculOus patients, both former Army men and civilians.
 he routine treatment of tuberculous patlentS III all general hospitals, instead Ot at present Ill only about One-eighth Of those III the country should enable people Ill moderate circumstances to ob- tam preliminary treatment in their home toWnstoWns instead of being forced to go without or to go to resorts. Such pre- lmlnary treatment would habituate the patient to the regimen essential to his cure and to the protection of others and would enable him to go back to his home and get well under home treatment. as he probably would not have done with out such training
 Visits to the hospital will also fa1nili- arize menlbtrs of the patients family with sanitary precautions such as the Sputum cup, which commonly herrihes them and IS coon given up by home pa- tient2.
 Visits by the family physician to his patient in the hospital would familiarize h11n with the treatment and enable him to diagnose other cases much earlier. It would Slao enable him to supervise the later home treatment of both. this patient and ot others. At present, although tt1- berculoslS IS the most common of all serious diseases, its treatment is neglect ed because general practitioners are i'll the habit of sending thei:. patients away
 In short the result of opening the general hospitals to tuberculous patients will, it IS believed, be very largely pre1 ventative and will thus be in line with the medical tendency of the day, which Is looking more and more to prevention instead of to cure.