Thirty-eighth annual report of the resident physician of the Belfast District Hospital for the Insane of the counties of Antrim and Down, and the county of the town of Carrickfergus : from 1st April, 1867, to 31st March, 1868.

  • Belfast District Hospital for the Insane.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thirty-eighth annual report of the resident physician of the Belfast District Hospital for the Insane of the counties of Antrim and Down, and the county of the town of Carrickfergus : from 1st April, 1867, to 31st March, 1868. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SUICIDAL AND HOMICIDAL CASES. Each year brings its own quota of cases of the above cha¬ racter, which are always such an anxious charge, and add so seriously to the increasing responsibilities devolving upon those placed over these institutions. Thirty of the admissions were suicidally disposed,—fourteen males and sixteen females. Of the suicidal males, one nearly strangled himself before being admitted; one threw himself into the tire, hut was extricated before receiving much injury ; one precipitated himself from a window; one refused food pertinaciously : the remainder made suicidal attempts, by hanging, drowning, cutting the throat, &c. Of the females of this class, five attempted suicide by drowning ; two by taking poison ; one by throwing herself into a well; one by jumping from a window; and the others by hanging, and threatening self-destruction in various ways. The homicidal cases were twenty-three in number,—eighteen males and five females. The males in this category threatened, or attempted, the lives of parents, wives, children, and others. The females, in three cases, attempted the lives of their hus¬ bands ; one, her mother; and the other was strongly homicid- ally disposed. ACCIDENT. The only accident out of the usual course during the year was one which occurred to an epileptic male patient, who, whilst walking about in the airing court, suddenly fell down in a violent paroxysm,—and, in doing so, fractured his leg. The house being so greatly crowded at the time, it was deemed advisable to send him to the General Hospital in town, where he remained about t wo months, then returning quite recovered. The committee of the General Hospital considered that the ex¬ penses incurred for the special attendance, &c., which were necessary in his case, should be paid, and which, after some correspondence with the Government authorities, were dis¬ charged accordingly, by order of the Governors.