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Show 00 ABUSE OF INSANE PATIENTS. Headed by Mrs. Clinton P. Farrell, a committee of women, has been investigating in-vestigating reports of mistreatment of the sick and helpless in the big hospitals hos-pitals of the country and at least one outrageous abuse of suffering humanity human-ity has been discovered. At the Pon-tiac Pon-tiac State Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michi-gan, Dr. U. J. Wile has. been experi-menting experi-menting with rabbits and infected material from the brains of living patients. pa-tients. The doctor's report, which follows, fol-lows, is published verbatim: "For my series of experiments six cases were chosen from a large number num-ber of paretics. Tho diagnosis from the clinical findings and from the spinal fluid was frank general paralysis. paraly-sis. All the cases had been under the observation of Dr. Edmund A. Christian, at the Pontiac State Hospital Hos-pital for a long time, and in each case there were marked manifestations of advanced paresis. Tho material was obtained from the brain. The site was prepared with tincture of iodine, with ethyl chloride as a local anesthetic. anes-thetic. The skull was trephined over the frontal convolution at a point about one-half to one inch from the raid-line and well forward of the course of the middle meningeal artery. By means of a long, thin trocar needle connected to a syringe a small cylinder cylin-der of gray and white matter with some fluid from the ventricle waB removed." re-moved." This points to the importance of having our public hospitals open to regular inspection by committees of public spirited citizenB not connected with the institutions. No experiments of the kind carried on at tho Michigan hospital should be allowed in any part of the United States. |