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directed the woman to take him home and call in a doctor as the
case could not be treated as an out-patient. The child was
taken home, in the mother's arms, part of the way in an
omnibus. A doctor was called in, who forthwith notified the
illness as diphtheria, and the child was removed to hospital:
the case was notified by the hospital medical officer also. I
wrote to this gentleman, stating that the child had been illegally
conveyed home in a public vehicle, and requested him to favour
me with an explanation, for the information of the Sanitary
Committee, why the usual course of detaining the child, and
sending for the Asylums Board ambulance with a view to
removal to hospital, was not adopted? The medical officer's
reply confirmed the accuracy of the woman's statement. 'As
far as he was aware,' he said, in notifying the case to me, ' the
provisions of the Public Health Act had been entirely complied
with.' He added that 'it was quite impossible to make any
provision' for the child at the hospital; but that 'if he had
thought it probable that the child could be immediately taken in
to one of the Asylums Board hospitals he would have taken the
usual steps.' At least, it may observed, the child would have
been safely taken home in the ambulance, and, as already
stated, he was subsequently admitted to the Asylums Board
hospital." *
Ambulance Arrangements.—Kensington patients are
removed by the staff at the Western Station, which adjoins
the Western Hospital at Seagrave Road, Fulham. Between
8 a.m. and 8 p.m., on weekdays, cases for removal are reported
at the Managers' central offices, Norfolk House, Norfolk Street,
Strand, W.C., these being in telephonic communication with
the station. During the night, and on Sunday, application
for a patient's removal is forwarded direct to the ambulance
station. The Managers' telegraphic address is " Asylums
Board, London," and their telephone number is 2587.
* It is an interesting legal question—Who was "in charge" of the
infected person, and liable for the exposure, in the street, and in the public
conveyance ?