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9
Whilst referring to the Mortuary, may I be allowed to say
that I think that the methods usually pursued in the case of a
person dying in a public place leave something to be desired
in the matter of refinement. For instance, if a lady of whatever
rank in life dies suddenly in the street, at a railway
station, or in any public place, the body at once becomes the
property of the Coroner, who, rightly, causes it to be conveyed
to the nearest mortuary for identification, and not to the home
of the deceased, even if well known, or when the medical
attendant is able to certify the cause of death. At the
mortuary the body is placed on the slab and stripped at once,
the clothes being put on one side. This may be appropriate
for the unclaimed, but it appears to me that as soon as the
Coroner has ascertained that there is no suspicion of foul play
or of violence, he might well be permitted to restore the body
to the friends, if they so desire, and not allow it to be left,
perhaps for days, in a nude condition, in such a place as a
mortuary, till an inquest is held.
I suggest only that the Coroner be permitted a wide
discrimination in the matter of disposal, and that, for a
deceased woman, the services of the women police should be
utilised.
At the same time we all know how necessary it may be to
have bodies removed to the mortuary from crowded tenements,
especially in cases of infectious disease, or when post-mortem
examinations have to be made, but that is a different
matter.
With regard to post-mortem examinations, the time has
surely arrived when Coroners should be empowered to provide
and pay for skilled post-mortem assistants to do the actual
work of the examination in the presence of the doctor, instead
of throwing the whole responsibility for duties so unsuitable
and so undesirable on the busy medical practitioner.
THE HARROW CLINICS.
There can be no doubt that these Clinics continue to be of
great service, and are widely appreciated.
Dr. Tchaykovsky, Mrs. Laurence-Browne, and Mrs„
Handley, with the Public Health Committee, supervised the
work of the Municipal Clinics, which are referred to below in
detail.
There are other Clinics, which are under the control of
the Council of Child Welfare.
The accompanying tables show the details of attendances,
&c., and the large amount of work that was accomplished in
1923.1