The rights of the insane and their enforcement / by Clark Bell.

  • Clark Bell
Date:
[between 1880 and 1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The rights of the insane and their enforcement / by Clark Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    and horrors, with its cousin-german in atrocity, the punisli- ment of seclusion, which so often breaks down and extin- guishes what Httle strength of intellect or light of reason is lingering in the benighted mind. ''5- And, most important of all, that supei-vision and control ofvCr superintendents of asylums, so indispensably necessary for the welfare of the inmates, and the proper administration of remedial agents for the care and treatment of the insane. ' In those States where the legislatures are willing to establish such a Board it should promptly be done, the present winter. In New York the movement is more likely to take the form of a Select Committee, after the plan of the English Parliament, and action upon their report, before this great step can be taken, though special legislation may, and doubtless will, take fo^riti^'this session, to relieve against great and acknowledged evils in the present law, concerning which the popular mind is'now unanimous, or nearly so, for relief and reform. If I were asked to classify those rights of the insane which, a class, they have a right to look for stringent legislation to enforce and protect, and which it is the clear duty of the State to provide unasked, and enforce unsought, I should request you to consider among some of those I consider most pronounced aiid most indisputable, the following:— 1. It is the duty of the State to provide proper receptacles for the incurably insane patients, apart from those devoted to remedial treatment. 2. The criminally insane should also be properly cared for by themselves, under the most enlightened methods of treatment. 3. The right of mechanical restraint should never be enforced by the State, except absolutely and indispensably necessary for the welfare of the patient, and it should be forbidden by law. 4. Seclusion, as a punishment, should be prohibited. Indeed, all punishment of the insane should be forbidden. If the insane are not responsible for offences against the law, they should not be at the mercy of attendants, keepers or superin- tendents, for petty offences or misconduct in asylums.