The physician's report for the year 1845 : ordered to be printed for the use of governors, March 9, 1846 / The Royal Hospital of Bethlem.

  • Bethlem Royal Hospital (London, England)
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physician's report for the year 1845 : ordered to be printed for the use of governors, March 9, 1846 / The Royal Hospital of Bethlem. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The health of the establishment has been highly satis¬ factory. No epidemic has prevailed of any importance. To this happy result, under the Divine blessing, the great cleanliness and complete ventilation of every part of the Hospital have mainly contributed, combined with the prompt attention observed by the Medical Officers in the incipient stages of disease. Some of the most formidable ailments have been those which the patients have brought with them on their ad¬ mission, and under which a few have sunk; but it was considered at the moment more important to relieve dis¬ tress, than strictly to observe that rule which would have excluded them from admission altogether. GENERAL TREATMENT. The same uniform kindness has characterised the con¬ duct of all the officers and attendants, this year, which has been so manifest on former occasions. Patient perseverance, and unceasing endeavours to soften down the asperities of mental suffering, have con¬ stituted, as it were, the watchword of the establishment. All cases which may have been introduced under circum¬ stances of unnecessary restraint, have met with some im¬ mediate mitigation, if not a total suspension, of coercive measures. The cases have been very few which have re¬ quired much perseverance of restrictive treatment. One female curable has been peculiarly pertinacious in her at¬ tempts to inflict some injury on herself—the padded room has been a means of frustrating this disposition more, perhaps, than any other expedient. The personal care and forbearance exercised by the male and female attendants on each side of the Hospital respectively, cannot be too highly appreciated. b 2