St. Giles, Camberwell : report on the Sanitary Acts in their relation to the houses of the very poor.

  • Bristowe, John Syer, 1827-1895.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: St. Giles, Camberwell : report on the Sanitary Acts in their relation to the houses of the very poor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    looking condition, which (though not unhealthy) is a serious grievance to the tenant, and to the casual visitor would be a proof of official neglect. It is difficult to see how the spread of dangerous infectious diseases among the very poor can he effectively checked unless the legislature gives local authorities much greater powers than they now possess of compelling the removal of the sick to hospital. But it may he admitted that the exercise of even the most stringent powers must necessarily fail to a large extent to secure the desired object. Fortunately, in a very large number of cases the removal of our own dangerous patients is secured by the judicious advice and firm action of the Inspectors of Nuisances. But there are cases where all such advice fails, and unfortunately these are often cases for the necessity of removal of which there is the most pressing need. The enactment giving power of compulsory removal is limited in its operation to persons who, suffering from dangerous contagious or infectious disorder, are without 'proper lodging or accommodation, or are lodged in a room occupied by more than one family. Now it is well-recognised that this enactment has reference to the needs of the patient and not to the safety of the persons with whom he lives; and that hence a medical man is not justified in certifying that the patient is without proper lodging or accommodation unless the room in which he is lying is unfit for living in, or in some way or other contravenes express provisions of the Sanitary Acts, and a magistrate will refuse to make an order for his removal unless the circumstances of the case be exceptionally bad. That a magistrate will be slow to grant an order we have experienced on several occasions. And even if the order be obtained it by no means follows that the patient shall be removed. The medical man in attendance may certify (most likely correctly, at any rate correctly according to his judgment) that the patient is too ill to be removed; or the patient himself may still decline to go, and may remain immovable except by force, which in such a case can scarcely be applied. In one instance, a few years ago, we obtained a magisterial order for the removal of a man suffering from small-pox; he refused to submit, and as his