Brief history of the campaign against tuberculosis in New York City : catalogue of the tuberculosis exhibit of the Department of Health, City of New York, 1908.

  • New York (N.Y.). Department of Health.
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Brief history of the campaign against tuberculosis in New York City : catalogue of the tuberculosis exhibit of the Department of Health, City of New York, 1908. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

    15/56 (page 11)
    the actual number of deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis in New York City had increased but little during this period. The actual number of cases in the city is probably less, certainly not more, than in 1897—the death rate having decreased more than enough to compensate for the increase of population. Still, the people and the medical profession have become so well educated now to demand hospital and sanatorial care, that the accommodations, although nearly three times as great, are more inadequate than were the one thousand beds available in 1897. In 1903 the Department of Health set aside several pavilions in one of its hospitals for contagious diseases for the special care of cases of tuberculosis, which it might become necessary to remove and retain if necessary against their will. It was early recognized that the point of view of the hospital and of the sanitary authorities was radically different. The superin- tendent of a hospital will naturally insist on dismissing at once a patient who is insubordinate or violates the rules of the insti- tution, and, yet, from the sanitary point of view, such a patient is the most dangerous one to be at large. These pavilions were opened particularly for the care of such cases, at first with a capacity of forty-eight beds, which has since been increased to more than two hundred. Since May, 1902, whenever it has seemed necessary for the protection of the public health, cases of tuberculosis have been removed and retained, whether they have been willing to enter or remain in a hospital or not. In 1903, provision was also made for the employment of a corps of trained nurses, in addition to the corps of special med- ical inspectors, in order that a closer and more continuous supervision of the cases remaining in their homes might be maintained. The nurses visit such cases reguk,rly, make record of the surroundings, mode of living, physical and financial condition, temperature, observance of instructions and of any special needs. When it seems desirable, recommendation for charitable assistance or for removal to a hospital is made. The work of the inspectors is now largely limited to visiting the premises to make a special examination of a ease, or of the con- dition obtaining in the home, to recommend forcible removal, or to order disinfection or renovation of premises after their vacation either by death or removal.