Fourth report of the Durham County Asylum : for the year 1862.
- Durham County Asylum (Sedgefield, England)
- Date:
- 1863
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Fourth report of the Durham County Asylum : for the year 1862. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![“ The evidence wont to show that a struggle, as before mentioned, took place between the attendant and II.—that several patients were present when it took place—that an attendant was in the adjoining room with the communicating door open, and that so little disturbance was made that this attendant did not b;now that anything unusual was going on. It did not appear that any great violence had been used, nor did H., although seen by the Medical Assistant after the struggle, complain of being hurt, or appear to be so at the time. “ II. was labouring under General Paralysis (which in all proba¬ bility would have caused his death within a few months) a disease accompanied by degeneration of various tissues in the body, and affecting, more or less, every system and function. It is therefore not unnatural to suppose that the bony structure partook of this degeneration, and gave way to pressure, which would not have been felt by a healthy subject. The Visiting Justices next day enquired thoroughly into the case, and have since directed the discharge of the attendant, and have, through me, cautioned the others against kneeling on any patient.”—[Extract from a letter to the Gateshead Board of Guardians, Feb. 3, 1862.] I brought the subject, as stated in the above letter, before the Visitors at their meeting the next day, when they examined various witnesses, both attendants and patients, and came to the conclusion that there was no cause of complaint against the attendant, except that mentioned above. Immediately on the con¬ clusion of the inquest I forwarded to the Commissioners in Lunacy notice of the death of J. II., giving as the cause of death the verdict of the Coroner’s jury, and stating that it was the verdict. The law required that I should have forwarded it within 48 hours after the death, but this I was not in a position to do, not having made a post mortem examination : I forwarded the certificate the first post after the investigation. About a fortnight after these events, a patient informed me that he had seen the attendant, before accused, strike H. He also brought evidence of cruelty in other instances, which, though they could not be received in a court of law, justified me in discharging the attendant, which I immediately did. Some three months after, two Commissioners in Lunacy, Mr. Lutwidge and Mr. Wilks, visited the Asylum, and, on their asking some questions about the class of attendants procurable in this dis¬ trict, I informed them of the above case, when they carefully examined all the books, including the Case Book and the Post Mortem Book, having reference to H.’s death. They did not, as is generally done, make an entry in the Visitors’ Book, but scut me in a week after](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30306966_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
