Fiftieth report of the Board of Visitors of Brooklyn State Hospital to the Department of Mental Hygiene for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1945.

  • Brooklyn State Hospital.
Date:
[1945]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Fiftieth report of the Board of Visitors of Brooklyn State Hospital to the Department of Mental Hygiene for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1945. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    proved to the extent that they were able to leave the hospital on con¬ valescent status. Those who did not respond favorably to shock therapy and therefore continued to require care and treatment have been placed in veterans’ facilities wherever possible, but due to the overcrowded con¬ dition of these institutions and their inability to take our patients, we have sent a considerable number to the Veterans’ Memorial Division of the Kings Park State Hospital, which was provided some years ago for the care and treatment of this type of patient. As more veterans return from the service we anticipate that the number of those with mental disease requiring admission to this hospital will increase. It is also highly probable that the number applying for care and treatment in the clinics maintained as the outpatient department will increase quite materially. The problem of the psychiatric care of the returning veteran in general should be a federal one, and it is hoped that the Federal government will not delay in providing adequate hospitals for the psychiatric care and treatment of the men and women who have been called from their homes to do active duty with the armed forces. Movement of Patients During the year 2,504 patients, 1,102 men and 1,402 women, were admitted to the hospital. This decrease from the preceding year was brought about by the order of the Commissioner of Mental Hygiene which discontinued admissions from the psychiatric wards of Bellevue and Kings County Hospitals from September 1 to October 15, 1944 and for the entire month of February, 1945. During the year we trans¬ ferred only 322 patients to other institutions, which is approximately one-third the number transferred in former years. There were 1,375 cases, 529 men and 846 women, placed in convalescent care. Discharged cases numbered 1,280, and deaths 942. This number of deaths is due mainly to the fact that 48.4 per cent of our first admissions were aged persons, many of whom came to us in poor physical condition. The law covering commitment of patients to State hospitals was changed during the year so that at the present time patients are certified to the hospital by a judge, where they may be held for 60 days. If the director of the institution finds that they are in need of further care at the end of this time, he makes a certificate to that effect, filing one copy with the Department of Mental Hygiene and one with the clerk of the county from which patient was admitted. This law took effect October 1,