Care and treatment of persons afflicted with leprosy : report of the Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine, United States Senate, on S. 4086, a bill to provide for the care and treatment of persons afflicted with leprosy, and to prevent the spread of leprosy in the United States.

  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine.
Date:
1916
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Care and treatment of persons afflicted with leprosy : report of the Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine, United States Senate, on S. 4086, a bill to provide for the care and treatment of persons afflicted with leprosy, and to prevent the spread of leprosy in the United States. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    } Vey OSS ee ee PT = ESERIES SEE SSO a eT oe TREATMENT OF PERSONS AFFLICTED WITH ‘LEPROSY. The Cuarrman. How do you feel, Doctor, toward the passage of _ such a bill as this, and how does the profess in your State feel in regard to it? Dr. Funron. I am very much in favor of the passage of a bill of ps sort. I do not think the profession in my State is very sensi- tive on the subject. Their experience is not such as to arouse them. ~At the Johns Hopkins Hospital, however, you would find a vigorous sentiment in favor of this legislation. They had to carry the w Se * load—service, sympathy, and cost—in the case of M. S. The CuatrmMan. Have you any other suggestion to make, Doctor ? Dr. Futrox. No: I have not. ‘The Cuarrman. We are very much obliged OO tink: Dr. Fuuton. Not at all. - ; The CHarrMan. Dr. Hoffman, we W ill hear you now. STATEMENT OF FREDERICK L. HOFFMAN, LL. D., STATISTICIAN, THE PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO. OF AMERICA, NEWARK, N. J. ~ The CHamman. Doctor, I will ask you to please discuss this ques- tion i in your own Way. os Dr. Horrman. I have taken note of what has already been said in evidence. and I will try to answer some of the questions that Wave . beer raised, particularly by Senator Works. At the outset, however, T would like to explain my own interest in this matter, which ex- tends over about 20 years, and which has included visits to the leper — settlements at Molokai and in Louisiana, as well as to the isolation ~ hospital at San Francisco, where some 15 cases are being taken care of, I have also seen isolated cases of leprosy, including the two patients for some time under confinement here in Washington. i have, therefore, the advantage of a fairly extended personal know]- edge of actual cases, but, in addition thereto, I have quite extensively Dero eitCoecematemsmtatates ‘of. leprosy throughout the United States and athe remainder of the civilized world, with the result that I am abso- pty convinced of the gradual increase of leprosy in this country in the absence of effective segregation. And I desire to impress upon ey ou, Mr. Chair man, and upon your committee, the profound convic- - _ tion that leprosy in America is a much more serious menace to the public than is generally assumed to be the case. __. By way of illustration of the ever-present menace of leprosy, I ~ would submit for inclusion in the record the following case reported — in the New York Sun of this morning from Brooklyn, N. Y.: Tillie Davis, 18 years old, who died on Saturday in the Kings County oak tal and was buried yesterday in Mount Sinai Cemetery, was a victim of leprosy, according to the coroner's certificate. She was admitted to the hospital 10 “months ago. About a year prior to that she came from ‘Key West, .where her parents. live, to join a sister in Brooklyn. , - Deputy Supt. Price of. the hospital said that w hen the girl was ‘taken to the hospital the diagnosis show ed that she was suffering from se and internal le 3 “ We isolated her,” Mr. Price said, “as much as. possible. Men suffering from leprosy are sent to an isolated section of Blackwells Island, but no pro- Yision is made for women. Her condition did not develop sufficiently to eg. 5) elation of other patients.” »