Need of more state hospitals for the insane / by J. Allen Jackson.

  • Jackson, J. Allen.
Date:
[1914], ©1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Need of more state hospitals for the insane / by J. Allen Jackson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    US with health, strength, vim, and vigor, that we may be able to erase from the canvas the horrible picture of an insane asylum so common to the layman's mind and to replace it with one showing this homelike method of treatment, where the un- fortunate is content to dwell, and his family, kno^v- ing that the State is his guardian, may with a fair degree of peace of mind, chase their favorite phan- toms. Urgent relief is needed for the overcrowded con- ditions of our refractory sections, as well as the unclean groups. Do not infer for one moment that we insist that the State erect separate hospitals for every class of the insane, but, on the other hand, we do insist that the State of Pennsylvania give breathing space for each particular group of pa- tients. Despite the contention that proper food, the proper number of nurses, and proper ward capacity, would restore entirely these two great groups of insane, many of both classes are here and will remain as such until they have passed into the great be)'ond. Isolated cases, here and there, or those of a certain type respond to treatment, but they are the exception and not the rule. Our hopes for preventing such a class of patients rests in the early and successful treatment of incipient cases in psychopathic hospitals. One could continue this argument further, by saying that there should be a sufificient number of State hospitals for the insane, in order that the pa- tients in every county institution be placed under the immediate supervision of the State. Come, take a trip with me through the county hospitals for the insane in Pennsylvania. With the exception of two, or possibly three, how many do we find with laymen as superintendents? How many do we find with only one physician and no one to re- lieve him in his hours off duty? How many of these physicians are paid between $1,200 and $1,800 a year? How few of these have consulting alienists and neurologists, or regular licensed