Sixty-fifth annual report of the County & City of Worcester Lunatic Asylum, Powick, for 1917-18, and financial statements.

  • County and City of Worcester Lunatic Asylum (Powick)
Date:
1918
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sixty-fifth annual report of the County & City of Worcester Lunatic Asylum, Powick, for 1917-18, and financial statements. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/40 (page 14)
    The proportion of epileptics to the total number in residence is 12-5 per cent., and of the actively suicidal, 2-2 per cent. The majority of the former are lodged in 4 or 5 Wards on each side, but there is hardly one Ward without a few Patients of this class. Although the provision of papers and other literature is fairly good, it does not appear to be adequate to the needs of the increased number of Patients. I could not help being struck with this deficiency, especially on the Male side in the combined day-room and dormitories, where most of the inmates were entirely unoccupied. During the period under review the chief causes of death have been from Heart Disease and Phthisis, the former contributing 32-4 per cent., and the latter 30-1 per cent, of the deaths from all causes. Nine patients, all males, have died from General Paralysis, i.e. little more than 3 per cent., and the deaths attributed to Senile Decay amounted to 9-7 per cent. There have been two inquests ; one was in the case of a male Patient who died of Senile Decay, and who sustained an accidental fracture of his thigh nearly 9 months before, the Jury finding that this injury did not contribute to his death. The other was a female Patient who committed suicide by strangulation, under circumstances which were fully reported to our Board at the time. The verdict stated that she “ had not previously shown any suicidal tendency, and that there was no evidence of neglect on the part of the Staff.” The only Zymotic diseases that have occurred have been solitary sporadic cases of Measles, Enteric and Scarlet Fever, and 17 cases of Dysentry, which also attacked one of the Attendants. There have been no cases of this disorder since July. The serious non-fatal casualties reported during the last 18 months comprise 13 cases of fracture of bones, 2 of dis¬ location and 1 of ruptured ligament ; one of the fractures was spontaneous, being due to Cancer. All the other cases were due to falls, either caused accidentally, or by being pushed down by fellow Patients.