New Britain herald., 1927-02-24

liar with the situation. Frequently Dr. Goodwin went out of his way to comfort the family and to alleviate distressing conditions.
 pr. Roger NJ. Griswold, health of- flcer broke his silence regarding the case with a statement which denied most of the reports which were first circulated.
 Health Officer Griswold's state ment was as follows:
 On Feb. 19 I was notified that the fourth child had the disease and the mother pneumonia. This information came to me through an indirect source, and l did not receive official notice of this from the attending physician till the 22nd.
 l at once arranged to place the child in the Hartford Isolation, and directed the nurse to give the moth CT every needed attention.
 I received no notice of the death Of the mother till after the body had been removed from the house, which should not have been done without my permission.
 On Jan. 24 I was notified that a child in the Simpson family had scarlet fever. I made an inspection that same day and found mild case of the disease. at once placed the house under quarantine, and ordered the other children in. the family to stay at home.
 At that time the mother was we'll able to care for the child. The fath- CT was not excluded from the house but was ordered to keep entirely away from the dairy of the farm where he was employed. and these orders he carefully obeyed. and his employer, Mr. Hall, used all care that this was done. and Simpson was employed on other work about the farm.
 His employer also saw that he was supplied with all necessary food, fuel, etc.
 On Jan. 31 I was notified that two other children had scarlet fever. and these continued to satisfactory convalescence.
 At this time I found the public nurse had been in attendance on the cases, and I notified her to discon- tinue her attendance, because she could not care for dangerous con- taglous cases, and at the same time continue her work in the schools.
 The loose talk. of the family not being supplied with food, fuel, etc, is absolutely untrue. The unsanitary and unhygenic conditions complained of were due to living conditions which had nothing to do with the sickness of the family. except that If it had been possible to isolate the first case, the others might have es- caped.
 The mother did not have scarlet fever and her death could in no way be attributed to scarlet fever.
 was not the attending physician, and my responsibility consisted en- tlrely in seeing that the public were 
 contagion. every thing beyond this was up to the attending physician. who did not ask the proper authert- ties for the services of the nurse. but assumed the responsibility of calling her in without notifying the health officer, and giving the public the chance for the protection which they are entitled to.
 Quarantine for any one means hardship, and sometimes suffering. and when the health officer is called on to enforce the law in such cases, it is the public. and not the indi- vidual who must be considered. The officials of the town of Ber- lin are not lax in doing everything possible to relieve the sick and needy. and the health officer of Ber- ! lin does not need any instruction i from irresponsible sources as to/his public duty, and the selectman is al- ways ready and anxious to accept any suggestion as to needed aid. I am not making this statement on account of any criticisms of my actions in the case. because person. ally have learned long ago that the health officer. like the policeman, t subject to all sorts of accusation: when he does his duty and tries tt protect the public. and wish sim ply to say that in the many years have had charge of the public healtl