An address on our duty to the consumptive breadearner : delivered to the Oxford and District and Reading and Upper Thames Branches of the British Medical Association, June 28th, 1901 / by Sir J. Burdon-Sanderson.

  • Burdon-Sanderson, John Scott, 1828-1905.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An address on our duty to the consumptive breadearner : delivered to the Oxford and District and Reading and Upper Thames Branches of the British Medical Association, June 28th, 1901 / by Sir J. Burdon-Sanderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    it was a year earlier and that in still greater proportion his value to the community has diminished. How can we help him to guard against its falling to a lower level ? How can we help him so to husband the strength that remains to him, that life may be still worth living—not a mere slow descent into the dark valley ? The Kind of Help the Consumptive Bread-earner requires. The answer to the question, How is this to be done ? de- pends on what we know of the character of the evil we have to combat. And here I must ask your permission for a moment to speak as if I were addressing laymen. We call the disease consumption—phthisis—because it gradually but surely deprives its victim of health and strength, but it is not less characteristic of it that the decline is not a con- tinuous one. We habitually divide it into stages—an initial stage characterised by gradual impairment of all functions, and, as regards the affected organ, by consolidation; and a second stage, by fever, rapid emaciation, cough, and expector- ation, and the “physical signs” of disintegration. But although it is convenient to call them stages, the two condi- tions are not consecutive. The first stage is not an even down- ward progress, but a progress broken by catarrhal and febrile accessions, each of which is attended by signs of disintegra- tion. During these attacks the patient is unfit for work and requires bodily rest in bed. In general, the tendency of the attack is to pass off. If the patient is taken care of he returns after a few weeks’ illness to the same general condi- tion that he was in before, but a little weaker, a little more incapable. Finally comes the time when the process of breaking down goes on more rapidly, the tendency to a fatal termination of the disease is more decided, when, instead of moderate health interrupted by occasional illness, you have illness with occasional intervals of partial recovery. I have referred to these familiar facts in order to make it clear that the kind of help to be given must be determined by the condition of the individual that we desire to benefit. Our main purpose is to enable the breadearner whose health has been impaired by disease to make the best of the strength that remains to him. With this view two things are necessary. The first is to bring within his reach havens of refuge, to which he can betake himself with the assurance that he will find an imme- diate welcome during the periods of temporary illness to which he is liable. The second is to furnish him with the means of relieving himself from the burden of overwork from the moment that the progress of the disease makes him in- capable of sustaining it. Importance of Prompt Admission to Hospital whenever the State of the Patient requires it. Of these two requirements the first can be dealt with much more easily than the second. Wherever there is actual suffering, Christian charity and pity arc at hand to alleviate *1 yie.enormou3 sums which are annually contributed by the chantable for tlie relief oi consumptive patients might, if rightly used; almost suffice for the purpose. Unfortunately, the same vicious principle which prevails in the administration, of other medical charities supported by voluntary contribu-