The effect of tuberculosis institutions on the value and desirability of surrounding property / by the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis.

National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis (U.S.)

Date:: 1914

Credit: The effect of tuberculosis institutions on the value and desirability of surrounding property / by the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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$Summary and Conclusions Hospital not a Menace to Health Among the many conclusions which may be drawn from th array of facts presented in the preceding chapters, none is moi evident than that a tuberculosis hospital in itself is not a menac to the health of those living near it. This is the most frequer and, in practically all cases, the basic objection to the locatio of tuberculosis hospitals or sanatoria. Obviously, if there wei no fear of infection, the hue and cry frequently raised relati\ to the probable damage to property through the location of a institution for tuberculosis would be largely dissipated an would lose its force. That such an objection, however, is not a valid one, is show in the first place by the testimony of practically every supe] intendent who has expressed an opinion with reference to tb effect of his particular institution upon the health of thos living near it. In not a single case has the National Associs tion been able to find evidence that would indicate the slightes danger of infection from a tuberculosis sanatorium to those wh live on surrounding property, or who pass the doors of th institutions at frequent intervals. The testimony of America hospital superintendents is borne out furthermore by that ( similar officers of European institutions who have been aske about this question. In addition, it is greatly strengthened b proof submitted from many other sources, which demonstrate that the infection of healthy employees through associatio with patients within a well-regulated sanatorium is almost ur known. In the second place, this conclusion is affirmatively recognize in opinions by various courts of law and official bodies such < local and state boards of health, that have been asked to pa$