On legislation and provision for the care of the insane / by Alexander Watson Wemyss.
- Date:
- 1861
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On legislation and provision for the care of the insane / by Alexander Watson Wemyss. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![competent and properly qualified medical men, to the effect that the individual is either insane or a n idiot and requires to be placed under proper care and treatment, are required to be given after per- sonal examination, and under a heavy penalty in case of false statement, for his removal and care, it is only necessary that these should con- tain' their opinion as the result of their exami- ] nation of the patient. The minute definition of the form, nature, or kind of disease must be left to be settled by the medical profession. To enter into their professional and scientific views in regard to these, in all cases as they occur, would be useless and absurd. Hence the propriety and expediency of the general terms of the definition of lunatic as now proposed in the Act, leaving the responsibility and proper opinion of the case to the medical men. They being the sole and proper judges of the case, there can be no occasion for their grounds of opinion being inserted in their certificates. Schedule (D) of the Act should therefore be altered. The certificates go before the Sheriff, who is not qualified to judge as to any facts stated, whether or not they bear out the opinion given. This is excluded by the words of the Act, in the opinion of competent medical persons. Were the Sheriff called upon to form such an opinion or judgment of the case, he would require to become qualified in medical science, and himself examine the patient. But, in case of doubt, dispute, or difficulty, he should have power to call for the opinions of other medical men of his own appointment. As to a more minute and special classification of the cases in order to regulate their treatment,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21951561_0026.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
