Annual report of the General Board of Control for Scotland : 1923.

Date:
1923
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report of the General Board of Control for Scotland : 1923. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/408 (page 21)
    and was s6V6rely scalded on back, buttocks, legs and heels. That the cause of death was general paralysis of the insane, accelerated by scalds, but that there is no evidence as to who was responsible for the occurrence. It appeared to the Board that a further inquiry was necessary, and they requested one of their number to investigate all the circumstances on the spot. A Commissioner visited on October 17th and interviewed all the nursing staff concerned, and as many patients as were able to answer questions in any intelligent way, and who might possibly throw any light on the matter. As the result of his inquiries the Commissioner reported that he had come to the conclusion :— (1) That the patient was ordered to take G. B. to the bathroom; (2) that an unknown male nurse who gave the order did not go with him or left him alone with G. B.; (3) that the patient turned on the hot water and scalded G. B.; and (4) that there was no evidence to show which male nurse was responsible. He suggested that the Committee should be asked to caution strongly all the staff concerned as to their conduct in future. Various precautions have been taken to prevent the possi¬ bility of a patient entering the bathroom unless accompanied by a male nurse, and to prevent the possibility of any patient being able to turn on the bath water. Death by poisoning.—Winwick Mental Hospital. M. E. E., female patient, admitted June, 1922, died 18th May, 1923. In this case either a nurse or a workman, who had been doing repairs to the lock of a nurse’s room, left the door of the room unlocked, and the nurse, when going off duty at 2 p.m., left open the door of her wardrobe. The patient was thus enabled to gain access to a bottle containing a preparation of carbolic acid, with fatal results to herself. The Coroner considered that no blame was to be attached to the members of the staff; but the case must act as a warning to all officers to see that poisons or dangerous weapons must be most carefully locked up. Precautions to prevent risks will be more strictly enforced in future at this hospital. 9. Allegations as to Ill-treatment of Patients. Allegations of ill-treatment and neglect.—Sunderland Mental Hospital. B. B., a female patient, admitted March, 1921, died March, 1922. Cause of death, heart failure. In June, some two and a half months after the patient’s death, the husband requested the Visiting Committee to hold an inquiry into the treatment of his wife whilst she was a patient in the mental hospital, on the grounds, amongst others, that there