Minister Denies Brutality And Callousness

Chronicle (Levin), 5 September 1946, Page 6

Minister Denies Brutality And Callousness

-Press Association

By Telegraph-

WELLIXGTOX, Sept. 4. An emplmtic denial that patients in the Dominion's mental hospitals were subjected to brutal and eallous treatmeut at the hands of the nursing staffa, was given in the llouse of Ropresentatives today by tlie Alinister of' Health, Hotu A; il. Xordmeyer. The Aliuister was discuasing the report from tlie Public Health Conimittee 011 the petition by Arthur Sainsbury and others, of Auckland, who had asked for tho iinmediatc provision of small recover-y homes for the treatnient of cases of nervous breakdown. The Comniittee reported that it had no reeomniehdations to make. It found that the revised pollcy and plans now in the eourse of implenientation by the Cublic Health Hepartinent, were inore nractical and would largely meet the roquireinents of petitioners. The Alinister said he would like to take ihe opportuully of speakiug to the ilommittee s report aud to say somotliing about the booldet eutilled " Alisery Alansions, " xtubllshed recently by Alr. Bainsbury, aud to whieh rofereuce had been made in the Houae curiier in the session. The Alinister said lliere were some matters in that oooklet to whieh the aUentiou of the iJouse and country sliould be drawn. L-'or instance, ALr. Bainsbury alleged that inore than 500 eitizens entered Auckland 's two mental hospitals each year and that mere than 400 of tliem were compulsory patients. Ile i'urther alleged that of the feiv voluntary patients, many were later detained I'ompulsoriiy and that of each year's admissions of over 500, more than 250 w ere nevcr cured. Tlie Alinister said tlie actual iigures sliowed that actuaJ udmissiuns to Avondale and Kingseat hospitals last year were J50 aud 170 of tltese wero discluirged by the end of Llie year. It might be said not all those discharged were completely cured but 00, or 28 per cent., wero fully cured. In deciding whether these Iigures were good or bad, it was necessarv to consider tlie nature of the admissious. Uf tlie ;>50 admissions, (32 were cases of senilc decay, 49 congonital defectives, d epileptics and II organic brain ,disorders. Tlius 1J1 or 37 per cent. of the admissions were beyond curative trcatrnent. Of tlie balance of 2J9 recoverabie cases, 170 or 77 jier cent. were discluirged and 45 per cent. of them had reeovered before the „ end of the year. The Minister said these Iigures dealt with committed patients but out- of 5(31 voluntary admissious for the wliole of Xew Zenland last year, only 17 lnid to be committed later. . The Minister .faid comparisons lmd also been made about tlie reccvery raio aiul death rate in mental hospitals. but figures sliowed that tlie saies! place for a person to survive to a ripe. old age, was actually iu a meni.il hos pital, whereas the booklgt- b.ad suggested suclt an institution, was a , place where a person was likely to be overtaken by an early demiso. Alr. Xordnieyei" read a telegranf lie liad received from Hir Alexander Young. u fonuer Alinister of Henlth. saying lie stiongl y reseiited Alr. Bainsbury 's unwarranted attack on tlie Alental Hosp.iEals Dejuirtment and staffs uiui declar ing tliat tlie admiuistration of these insi tut ions was above politics. Alr. Xordmeyer said Mr. Bainsbury was prcsidenl of tlie Alental Iluspital Reform Association in Auckland whicli made wliolesale condemiuition o.t' the Heparimenl 's jiolicy and whieh, in par licular, said the Hepartinent 's plans for a new type of mental hosjiital at Lake Alice, did not meet with its approval. A'et ui Kebruary of last. year this saine association wrote saying tliat tlie ideas being put into praetice at Lake Alice would earn liigh coniuiendatioii for the Alinister of Health and Director-Gen-eral uf Alental Hospitals. Xow a little more than a year later, this association petitioned Ihe House for an eutircly different sysleni. Alr. Xordmeyer said tliat Alr. Bains I iu ry liad made an allegatiou to tlie committee last week that a certain putient liad had her iirin fraetured by a nurse Ijut a thorutigh investigation failed to reveal a tecord of that patient ever liaving sustained any l'racture sinee her admission. (Jn tho contrary, this [latient was subjeet to the most outlandish illusious and alleged on numeruus oecasions that she liad been in-

jured by attendants. Alr. Xordmeyer said an instance sueh as this sliowed the nxentality of the person making the allegations. Alr. Bainsbury apparentJy believed anythmg at all told to liiin by deJuded patients and his attack liad been very unfair to the superinteitd ents and staffs of niental hospitals who deepiy resented it. ALr. Xordmeyer said ho liad literally liundreds of unsolicited letters writteu to mental hospital superintendcnts by former patients, prais ing the treatnient they had received. The Minister said it should be ua necessary for him to speak iu tlus straiu but he had taken the opportun ity to do so because of the unfair attacks made on mental hospital staffs by Alr. Bainsbury and those associated with him. While tlie hospitals niigln not be perfect and it was possible that occasionally an attcndant lost his texn per, it was grossly unfair to allege, as Alr. Bainsbury had doue, that tlie staffs were, as a wliole, eallous aud brutal in their treatnient of patients. As far as the sulijoct of the petition itself was coucerned, the Hepartinent 's poiicy was to carry out as rapidiy as tho availability of materials permitted, a programme wliieh would provide new buildings and shoukl, in the near future, make tlie old type of mental hospitals a thing of the past. Alrs. G. II. Ross (Hamilton) said she had presented the petition to the House in good l'aith and did not rogret liaving doue so because what had emerged xvould aliay the eoncern of many - people. Alrs. Ross said she was perfect ly satisfied every thing possible was being done to oaro thoroughly foi people in niental Jiospitals. A recent unaunounced visit she made to oue men tai' hospital conlinned tliis, the ouiy fault being that the buildings were not originally intended for a mental hospital. Mr. -G. M. Bowden (Wellington Westj said that as the Alember who had asked the question drawing tlie Alinister 's at teiition to the booklet, he welcomed the statement the Aliniser had now niade. Had the Alinister given sucli a t'ull statement in axlswering tlie question when it was on tlie order paper, many people might have been spared a good deal of stress. Alr. Bowden said that, while ap preciating tlie Alinister 's statement, lie eould produce for every letter the Atiu ister had quoted, anoliier letter giving the opposite view on Ireatment of men tal hospital patients. Guvernment member: Hp you betieve them? . . Alr. Bowden replied , that he realised tliere -v'ks inuch in> the letters he re ceivod fvlxich couLJd not be belreved but at tlie same.tinie, statenignts wege matla whieh- warrdnted atteiition. Yery;de, yoted work wais done -by th'o Bupereintenclent and by ■ the tnajority. of the stal'f but it- was pyssi.bhi tliere were a tevv on tlie stafLV 'Wh'Use teniperamenl did not (it them i'pB-.tliif. work. The proper adiniuisffati'o'n o't* the country 's niental hospitals witlx their 80UU patients, wak';;i"giavc rosponsibility. • rL-he 'Minister ofi Bujqiiy, Hun. H. G.t Bullivan, .said ,. Alr. Bowden did nof cmerge very well from the discussion. When •spetikixig to tihe Alinister 's reply to Ihe question eadier in tlie session, Mr. Btmden appeared to give crede'nce to statemexits niaile iu the. booklet and to have already made uj> his mind in stead of approaching the -mut-tcr in a judicious way. Today Mr. Bowden said that for every letter the Alinister pro duced eonnuending the work of tlu mental hospital staffs, he eould produce a letter offering a contrary opiuion. Hid Alr. Bowden still aecept tlie statenients in those letters as autheutie? Alr. Bullivan said Alr. Bowden 's stato m ents eould do great harin and if tluMeinber did not investigate the truth fulness of matters ho brought forward, an unnecessary disturbance of the pub lie. miiid might he caused. Hespitc tlucouipletelv effeetive reply of the Alinister of Health, Alr. Bowden still lei't an uneasy impressiou in tlie publie mind whereas the publie should feel gfate ful that the Alinister had been able to expose tlie 1'alsity of the allegations made urthe booklet. Alr. K. P. Anderton ( Kden ) said the writer of the hook was obviously uiulei iudividual straiu aud the coimnittee had found, tliere was no f'ouiidation for the allegations whieh liad been made lo it.