Voluntary patients in asylums / by Stanley Haynes.

  • Haynes, Stanley.
Date:
[1869]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Voluntary patients in asylums / by Stanley Haynes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    cates of insanity, are admitted as boarders into Scotch asylums —public as well as private—if they have previously written to the Commissioners and have obtained the written assent of one of them, subject to i3rovisions that such boarders must*be seen by the Commissioners at each visit; that unless the boarder becomes a patient he cannot be detained more than three days after giving notice of his intention or desire to leave ; and that notices of admission, discharge, or death shall be sent to the Commissioners as m the case of patients. Also, that in the event of such boarders becoming patients, the certificants must not be in any way connected with the asylum. Nothing is specified concerning the duration of time granted by the assent, the renewal, or the revocation of it. Under the existing state of the law there is a reluctance to receive boarders into Scotch asylums, in consequence of the want of control, and therefore of benefit in many cases. Of dipsomaniacs as voluntary patients the Commissioners have reported The chief impediment is the want of the power of compulsory detention. It is undeniable that much mischief is caused to the health of the individual affected, and to the property and comfort of his family, from the irre- sistible tendency to the abuse of stimulants, and the question of legahzing compulsory control, where such a tendency exists, is one in favour of which powerful arguments may be ad- vanced. At the same time it is not desirable to bring mere drunkards within the scope of the lunacy laws; and there will frequently be a difficulty in determining where vicious indulgence ends and disease begins. In Ireland there are not any enactments respecting boarders in asylums, and their reception therein is consequently not recognised by law. In two or three instances within a period of, perhaps, ten years persons have been found residing volun- tarily in licensed houses by the Inspectors of Lunacy—who correspond to our Commissioners—but no objection has been made, the Inspectors being satisfied that no restrictions were placed on the freedom of egress of such residents whenever they wished. In at least one of the public asylums relapsed patients sometimes seek re-admission voluntarily, and they are received and treated like the other inmates. Previous to 1838 f voluntary patients could be admitted into asylums in France, provided they were received into a * loth Lunacy Report, 1868, p. Ixv. t Loi de 30 Juia, 1838.