Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ...the corridors, which should have none. In Ward N, the second floor, there were 166 patients. That floor has 38 small rooms with 102 cubic feet of air space each; 12 of these beds had 2 patients each, 26 had 1.... There are nine larger rooms with 1540 cubic feet of air space. Four of these had 2 patients each; 5 had 3; 44 patients were in alcoves where none ought to be; 49 had cots in the corridors. On Ward Q, the top floor, where the very sick bedpatients are, there were 100; 40 in single rooms of 932 cubic feet; 22 in 11 double rooms of 1400; 38 in alcoves which should have none. On that day there were no beds in the corridors. The corridors are all 300 feet long and 13 feet wide. The ceilings have a height as follows: The lower 12, the second 11, the third 10 feet. From January 13, 1902, to January, 1908, there were 14,432 admissions, 9495 discharges, and 4314 deaths. To the superficial observer this may mean a mortality of 29 per cent. You see, however, the miscalculation connected with this statement, which compares the total number of admissions with the number of deaths. If you deduct the discharges from the admissions, there remain alive 4927 inmates, of which 4314 had the opportunity of dying in the institution, that is 87 per cent. Now Blackwell's Island has plenty of air, but the tuberculous patients have none of it. Even their individual 500 cubic feet would do quite well if it were changed, but there is no ventilation. The windows are small, the walls are solid and nearly impervious to air, the narrow doors open into a central hall occupied by 50 patients each, and into over-crowded alcoves which should, be vacant. The windows must not be opened, for those near them would not endure the cold streaming in on them. There are no...