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67
Closely akin to non-notified fatal cases is the question of those
patients who are not notified until they reach a very advanced stage
of the disease. This unfortunate aspect of what must in some cases
be " late " notification is indicated by the following table:—
1922. 1923. 1924. 1925. 1926.
Total deaths, all forms of
Tuberculosis 71 58 70 60 56
No. dying unnotified 16 6 8 12 9
No. notified within one
month of death 9 5 9 14 7
No. notified within three
months of death 7 6 7 6 4
No. notified within six
months of death 1 4 4 3 5
Percentage of cases dying
within three
months of notification
(including also 45% 29% 34% 53% 35%
those dying unnotified)
(An average for the past five years of 40%.)
I regard this as an unnecessarily high percentage, and would urge
upon the medical practitioners freely to use the Tuberculosis Dispensary
for the purposes of diagnosis in obscure cases.
If there is in any case a strong objection on the part of the patient
to be notified, I should be very grateful if the medical men would
communicate with me. I am aware that sometimes patients consider
their position to have been prejudiced by notification ; but every effort
is made to prevent such taking place, and a hint from the notifying
practitioner will greatly help our efforts.