The realities of medical attendance on the sick children of the poor in large towns / by T.P. Heslop.

Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The realities of medical attendance on the sick children of the poor in large towns / by T.P. Heslop. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    THE REALITIES OF MEDICAL ATTENDANCE ON THE SICK CHILDREN OF THE POOR IN LARGE TOWNS. There is a grave misconception, both among the members of the medical profession and among the public, as regards the amount and quality of the medical attendance actually obtained by the sick children of the poor in these countries. This is the only explanation of the comparative indifference, not to say hostility, with which the establishment of Chil- dren's Hospitals has been viewed by some members of the most humane of the professions, and by the people of Great Britain in general, who, however regardless of the claims of education, cannot be truly said to be deliberately heedless of the cry of physical suffering. It is hardly necessary to tell such an audience as this that the mortality of young children is very great, but I will iu a few words indicate how this matter now stands. In one of the Reports of the Registrar-General it is stated that “of the deaths in England in 1859, no less than 184,264— two in every five of the deaths of the year—were of children under five years of age; and above half of these—105,629— had scarcely seen the light, and never saw one return of their birthday. It appears from Dr. Farr’s English Life- table* that of every 1,000 children born in England, 737 survive to attain their fifth year of age; the annual mortality * See British Medical Journal, March 21, 1868.