Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-10

interval preparing medication for the
patient. She testifies that the entire
| incident occupied no more than five
minutes The unfortunate occurrence
may have contributed to the death OF
| the patient, but so far as the getting
out Of bed and out OF the room are
concerned, they are things which might
happen in any hospital, with pay
| patients and special nurses, and some
| times do happen. 1t is not required
| that the nurse be at the bedside OF the
patient every minute except In violent
cases. But the board are of the opinion
/ that more than one nurse should be
on duty In Q ward where there are
numerous patients. On this occasion
leading to the elevator or to outdoors
were always under the eye Of a nurse
or attendant while it might not pre-
vent q patient getting out Of bed, 1t
would certainly prevent escape from
the floor. The standing committee on
medical service will deal with this stu
alton and see that proper steps are
taken. The testimony shows, however,
that the practice now In vogue is usual
| nurse was engaged as indicated, it is
hard to understand why an elevator
operator, with intelligence enough for
even that lowly task, could have carried
patient In night clothes and sheet
to the first floor on his car. The board
learned that this employe is no longer
with the hospital, though one witness
mistakenly testified to the contrary.
"The standing committee on medical
service will take up for special con-
sideration:
I'D The question of adding a fe-
male psychiatrist to the STAFF.
"(2) The question Of the use Of
strong rooms for amnesia patients con-
| :erning which there seems not to be
complete accord.
Strong Room to Expose Sham.
at was the practice of the chief
resident psychiatrist in office. when
the newspaper man was with him, to
place patients shamming amnesia, in
strong rooms to expose the sham. AT
his first examination of the newspaper
reporter he discovered that he was
shamming and ordered him into q
strong room. The charges that patients
are placed in strong rooms as matter
OF routine Is, however, completely dis
approved. No patient Is ever so con-
fined except upon order OF doctor,
unless In an emergency with violent
patient. Such emergency cases are at
once reported to the doctor in charge
and a written order made.
| 13) The question Of patients In the
medical and surgical wards who are
able to walk about being allowed to
assist in carrying meals to other pa
| tents.
There is no evidence that any pa
tient ever did this except voluntarily.
but one of the complaints in the
1 gT4L.z &c nQftenG.
before being operated upon, was COM
PEELED to carry heavy meal trays. The
board knows from its own observation
| that the trays are not heavy and does
not believe that Mrs. Thompson was
compelled to carry any OF them. How
ever. a patient volunteering to do such
work. might afterward change his mind
and imagine that he was compelled TO
do that which was voluntary. one
patient coming in and finding another
so engaged. might think 1t was neces-
sarv for him to do likewise In order to
win favor or receive attention.
! go The treatment of patients at the
| Court House. awaiting Court hearings.
towards the conclusion of the hear
! inps. a newspaper article charged tnat
patients brought to Court suffer Tor
| lack of attention, water and food while
waiting for their cases to come up.
1t seemed unnecessary to take pubic
testimony on this matter. If the STAND
| ing Committee finds that the conol-
| ton alleged exists to any degree. II
will be remedied so far as the hos
pital authorities are responsible there
! for.
Complainants Small.
I'm spite of the great publicity that
has been given to this investigation
and the occurrences leading up to It,
the number of persons who have re-
sponded to the open invitation to ap-
pear and make complaints was most
astonishingly small. outside OF the
Thompson case, there were really only
two. One of these, lady of intelll-
gence and refinement, gave an exceed
ingly detailed and convincing story OF