The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1926-12-17


from the highways and byways OF
Washington and sent to Gallinger
Hospital for mental observation.
2026 people--one every four hours
nearly, day and night. Sundays and
holidays included, throughout the
year. OF this number, 206 were
false alarms-they weren't crazy at
all, and after being kept locked up
for several hours to several days.
with corresponding loss of salary,
they were turned loose without so
much as Excuse me. ! thought
you were nuts Those who worked
for the Government could take the
lost time out of their annual leave.
Those who didn't took it out Of
their stomachs.
Up to 1904 Washington pro-
cedure in lunacy cases was based
on the commitment laws of Bedlam
Lunatic Asylum, Bishopsgate Street,
London, as revised and enacted into
law by the Maryland State legisla-
ture in the year 1885.
The changes made in 1904 were
not drastic. The progress achieved
beyond the ex-subjects OF King
George III was modest, almost un.
noticeable. As far as WashingtOn's
commitment laws are concerned,
we are still living in the latter part
of the eighteenth century. We
wear pink plush knee breeches
around the office without batting
an eye; we do our hair up i'm a
powdered queue tied with white
ribbon, and never question the
theory that insane persons are
possessed of devils.
When st. Elizabeth's Hospital
was founded in 1856, Congress added
a few provisions to the law-things
the Bedlam had overlooked. The
procedure to be followed in arrest
ing and committing insane persons
was more clearly defined, and forms
were drawn up to expedite the pro-
cess. Several Of these forms are in
use today.
Papers Out Of Date
But in 1856 there wasn't very
much known about mental disease.
The doctors had only one diagnosis
-unsound mind-and accordingly,
there was only one form of commit.
ment. Since then the medical pro-
fession has distinguished ~ tyes Of
mental diseases, and these have
been further separated into II rec
Ognized forms of mental and ner'
VOuS troublesome of them Sc
much alike that only an expert can
tell them apart, yet requiring en-
tirely different lines of treatment;
others differing as much from each
other as hydrophobia differs from
chicken pox; one as evanescent and
guiltIess OF after effects as a black
eye--another, Incurable as DEATH
and all requiring the same dusty
length and the same dull shade Of
red tape, in their commitment pro.
cess.
Take, for instance, the case Of
Malinna Grevcroft.
She came out OF st. Elizabeth
soflay1a month or two ago, and she's
sensitive about it, although she has
no more reason to abe than il she
had come out Of Garfield. or Prcvi-
dence.
But now and then she comes in
contact with people who figurattvs-
~ speaking, still wear pink plush
pants, do their hair up in queue.
and are pathetically Of the opinio1i
that only people whose brains are
wrong are treated at st. Elizabeth's.
And. unfortunately. the District
commitment laws bear out this
eighteenth century opinion.
For Congress has crippled the
Districts attempt to care for its
psychOtic caSes-cripDled it by keep
ing in force a law which permits
no one but dangerous Iunatics and
pauper insane to receive treatment
at DIR. Whites institutiOn~-that is,
If they are residents of the District.
Wrong Commitments
It is not to be supposed, Of
course, that Congress passed such a
law deliberately and Of malice a fore
thought. The chances are that
they passed it without any fore
thought at all. What else can
Cinderella Washington expect from
her step-sister States?
When you are told THAT man
has been patient at st. Eliza
beth's" you are quite justified If
asking Which was he, dangerous
lunatic or a pauper lunatic?' Be-
cause, under the law. no other
class Of patients can be admitted
admission for other District patients
Cd SEAAAS $OOu AuChR d1Iu
perjury.
1--WE sometimes find it necessary
towel, what practically amounts
to perjuring ourselves" an official
told this writer recently, lin order
to get treatment for a patient who
doesn't come within the legal re-
quirements. But the ordinary hos
pital is not equipped to deal with
psychotic cases. st. Elizabeth's Is
so equipped. What else can we co?
To shut a patient off from treat.
ment until he becomes dangerously
insane and perhaps incurable, is
worse than perjury"
All Of which Is true, no doubt, but
disturbing. 1t is unpleasant to
think that the laws committing one
to an insane asylum, perhaps for
life, can be juggled. have been
juggIed, and are being juggled now.
While I'm every case of beating the
law that has come under this
writer's notice, the irregular pro-
cedure was for the interest OF the
patient, what assurance have we
that sometime i'm the more or less
distant future, the irregularity may
not work the other way round
AS the old saw has 1t, dog that
will fetch a bone will take one. If
a man can be committed illegally
for his own good, why can't he be
committed Illegally for his guard
ian's good-or his wife's good-or
not to show any partially, a wife
for her husbands good? Or for
anv Interior reason?
Many States recognize the posi-
hility of false commitment. Massa-
nLnsetts for instance requires the