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is not in the least likely to cure a consumptive who has Tubercle
Bacilli in his sputum; and it is problematical how many admitted to
Sanatoria without T.B. in the sputum are consumptive at all. It is
open to doubt even whether it is a wise policy to send to a Sanatorium
a patient with a lesion of the lungs whose sputum, if he has any, is free
from T.B., since he is just in the condition and in the place where
doubt as to his condition may be converted into a tragic certainty. At
the end of the three months—a period of education as it is described—
the patient returns home. If the patient returned to a home that in
any way could be regarded as comparable with the Sanatorium he left,
and where he may have considerably improved, something might be
said in favour of the system, but so far as Tottenham houses are
concerned they cannot, even remotely, be made to resemble Sanatoria,
either in their structure, surroundings or other amenities. The discipline
of medical supervision is withdrawn, the patient must be totally incapacitated
before he can benefit (?) by the State Insurance allowance,
he becomes a burden to himself and upon those who have to tend him.
It is not surprising that the advantages gained at the Sanatorium are
short-lived, and the downward course, judging from recorded results, is
almost a matter of certainty.
Destructive criticism is ever easier than constructive, and doubtless
the financial burden of providing isolation accommodation for all infective
consumptives is a gigantic one. But that is the burden that
has to be borne, and nothing effective and advantageous will result from
shirking it. In the interest of the consumptive himself it is necessary]
that he shall have unlimited access to fresh air and an occupation
suitable to the measure of strength he enjoys; unlimited fresh air,
because the disease has destroyed irrevocably some portion of his lung
or lungs and it is imperative that the remainder shall do the work
of the whole: suitable occupation in order that the rest of the bodyl
may be kept as vigorous as possible. It is not doubted that science
will one day reveal the specific that will combat effectually the Tubercle
Bacillus, but according to present knowledge the Sanatorium or other
institutional isolation appears to be the best system that can ba devised
to stay the scourge, and insistence upon it, sentimental opposition notwithstanding,
should be boldly faced. In the interest of the healthy,
but susceptible, it is equally imperative that they shall not be subjected
to the constant menace of contact with a disease-dispensing fellow.
It is futile to hold Conferences to reiterate year after year the sajne
platitudes. The time is past for temporising. The facts are