The workhouse and its medical officer / by Alfred Sheen.

  • Sheen, Alfred.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The workhouse and its medical officer / by Alfred Sheen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/104 (page 24)
    certificate. This plan often saves much time and trouble. Some magistrates are not easily satisfied as to the insanity; others, again, owing to recent actions for alleged illegal removal, will not sign the order unless the Medical Officer states positively in his certificate that the lunatic is “dangerous to himself or others.” This of course is unreasonable, as many lunatics who ought to be removed to an asylum are not dangerous to themselves or others. It should always he borne in mind that one of the main objects of removal is the care and treatment of the patient, with a view to recovery if possible, in a special Hospital adapted for that purpose. It is a grievous pity that the words ‘lunatic’ and ‘asylum’ ever came into use: they frequently deter friends from placing such patients under proper care and treatment, and thus recovery is less frequent than it otherwise might be. A lunatic is a sick person, and an asylum is a hospital for his treatment: it is only the nature of the symptoms which render special arrangements necessary. When will people generally he sane enough to view the matter in this light, and to act accordingly? When two medical certificates are signed,—one by the Medical Officer and another by an independent medical man—the Justice cannot refuse to give an order for removal. In my experience it has never been necessary to resort to such a proceeding; as when a