View report page

72
incurable, finds some means of dispatching them, and no amount
of argument will convince them of the contrary. When once,
however, they have become in-patients, this misconception is
erased and they become "in-ners and out-ers," chiefly at times
of festival or holiday, and by careless and negligent habits when
discharged infect their surroundings broadcast.
During the year 120 deaths occurred at the Highgate Infirmary
from phthisis. Nearly all of these were admitted from addresses
in Finsbury, but only 87 were considered to have a Finsbury
settlement. Towards the end of 1909 there were nearly 200
phthisis patients still under treatment, and of these a little more
than half really belonged to Finsbury.
It is a great advantage to have cases of phthisis removed to an
institution, especially in the later stages when the expectoration
may be very profuse. This measure removes a possible source
of infection to others. Unfortunately, however, it is difficult to
secure the removal of these poor-law cases until they are helpless
or sometimes almost moribund. Under these circumstances the
removal, although still advisable, is not nearly as salutary as if it
were done earlier.