Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St James's, Westminster]
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applied by the Local Authority of the District in manner
provided, then, unless such building is a hospital in which
persons suffering from an infectious disease are received :
By Private Persons.—The head of the family to which such
inmate (referred to as the patient)-belongs, and in his default the
nearest relatives of the patient present in the building or being
in attendance on the patient, and in default of such relatives
every person in charge of or in attendance on the patient, and in
default of any such person the occupier of the building must, as
soon as he becomes aware that the patient is suffering from an
infectious disease to which the Act applies, send notice thereof
to the Medical Officer of Health of the district.
The expression "occupier" includes a person having the charge,
management, or control of a building, or of the part of a building
in which the patient is, and in the case of a house the whole of
which is let out in separate tenements, or in the case of a lodginghouse
the whole of which is let to lodgers, the person receiving
the rent payable by the tenants or lodgers either on his own
account or as the agent of another person, and in the case of a
ship, vessel, or boat, the master or other person in charge
thereof.
By Medical Practitioner. — Every medical practitioner
attending on or called in to visit a patient must forthwith, on
becoming aware that the patient is suffering from an infectious
disease to which the Act applies, send to the Medical Officer of
Health for the district a certificate stating the name of the
patient, the situation of the building, and the infectious disease
from which, in the opinion of such medical practitioner, the
patient is suffering.
Penalties.—Every person required to give a notice or certificate
who fails to give the same, is liable on summary conviction in
manner provided by the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not
exceeding forty shillings:
Provided that if a person is not required to give notice in the
first instance, but only in default of some other person, he shall
not be liable to any fine if he satisfies the Court that he had
reasonable cause to suppose that the notice had been duly given.
F