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23
Finsen Light Treatment
and the
Supply of Artificial Pneumo-Thorax Refills.
Fourteen applications were received during the year from the London
Hospital respecting 7 patients undergoing Finsen Light Treatment. Payment
was guaranteed by the Council for 168 attendances.
Twenty-five Refills were supplied by the Brompton Hospital with respect
to 2 patients receiving Artificial Pneumo-Thorax Treatment. Payments were
made by the Council for such Refills.
Leprosy.
A woman suffering from leprosy was brought to my notice. She is about
55 years of age and was born in Austria. Her parents separated when she
was a baby, and she was brought up by friends. When she was a child, she
came over to England to look for her father. It was impossible to obtain any
further information from her, as she is obviously mentally defective—whether
due to her illness or whether she has always been so—I am not in a position
to state. She went to live in Glasgow, and about ten years ago she got
married in London. After about four or five years of married life, her
husband, who was about 70 years of age, died suddenly in 1918 outside his
residence in Turner Street when he was returning from the Synagogue. An
inquest was held, and the verdict was "Found dead—Heart failure -natural."
From inquiries which I made I found that the husband had an eruption on
the face, which might very well be that of leprosy, and in that case the patient
might have contracted the disease from him. Otherwise it is very difficult to
account for the fact of her having contracted leprosy. For about four years
she lived in a house in Cannon Street Road and then she developed an
eruption on the face. She went to the London Hospital where the disease
was diagnosed as leprosy. She was, on the recommendation of the Skin
Specialist of the London Hospital, admitted to the St. George-in-the-East
Hospital, but after being there for a few months, she discharged herself, but she
was refused admission at Cannon Street Road. She was taken by somebody
to Greeneld Street, where, according to the occupier of the latter premises, she
was "dumped on them." She again attended the London Hospital and was
again sent to St. George's Hospital, but after a short stay she discharged herself
and returned to Greenfield Street. The occupiers of these premises were unaware
of her real disease, and in any case the premises were totally unsuited for the
purpose of housing her, and I communicated with the Ministry of Health on
the matter. The Leper Colony receive male patients only and she was
removed to a Home in the countrv at the expense of the Guardians.