Rooms which have been occupied by consumptives should be thoroughly cleaned, scrubbed, and whitewashed, painted, or papered before they are again occupied. Carpets, rugs, bedding, etc., from rooms which have been occupied by consumptives, should be disinfected. Such articles, if the Department of Health be notified, will be sent for, disinfected, and returned to the owner free of charge, or, if he so desires, they will be destroyed.
When consumptives move they should notify the department of health. Consumptives are warned against the many widely advertised cures, specifics, and special methods of treating consumption. No cure can be expected from any kind of medicine or method except the regularly accepted treatment, which depends upon pure air, an out-of-door life, and nourishing food.
Consumptives having an opportunity of entering a sanatorium, should do so at once.
When Delay Is Dangerous.—Inasmuch as it is mother's duty to watch over the health and the efficiency of all members of the household, she would do well to establish a rule to err on the safe side in every case of sickness. That rule should be never to delay too long in obtaining medical aid.
In nearly twenty years of active general practice I have had hundreds of "hurry" calls to "come at once." In not over a dozen of these calls did any of the cases demand immediate attention from a medical standpoint. Most of them, however, should have had earlier aid. People wait too long in the hope of spontaneous recovery, and when, instead of recovery, they realize that the patient is quite sick, they become conscience-stricken and send a "rush" call for the doctor. After delaying from day to day they decide to get professional advice and send a messenger for a physician with instructions to "go for another if he can't come at once." It is imperative he should come instantly, though they have delayed for a week in requesting his services. Every physician has these calls every week of his life. If an individual has survived a week's neglect, it is quite within reason to assume that he will survive another hour,—and during that hour the physician may have time to complete whatever he may be doing when the call comes.
If you have been guilty of bad judgment in not sending earlier for aid, don't add discourtesy to your sins. The world demands of us, and every person has the right to expect, a certain degree of consideration and courtesy. If we do not give it, we only harm ourselves because the lack of cultivation is a detriment which limits growth and happiness. The degree of attainable happiness is limited by the degree of "goodness" that is in us. If you are not considerate, depend upon it, there is an element of happiness which escapes you, and you cannot attain it till you are considerate.
It is inconsiderate and it is discourteous to send an immediate demand for a physician "to come at once" if there is no urgent need for his services, and if you have just been inspired for aid after a week's blindness, there is no urgency in the matter. A call in an hour would do just as well.
Take the following case: A mother discovers a small quantity of blood in the diaper of her two months old baby. There is a larger quantity in the afternoon and she decides to give the baby a dose of castor oil. During the night it slept fitfully and in the morning it has a large stool as a result of the castor oil and there is a large quantity of blood in the stool. She sends a "rush" call for a physician. The physician discovers the following facts: The baby is being artificially fed; it has been vomiting its food for a week; its stools have been green, foul and contained mucus; it had a fever for a number of days; it has lost much weight and looked pale and sickly. The physician obtained this history from the mother—she therefore knew the baby's condition. Why did she delay sending for a physician? How sick did she want the child to be before the need for aid seemed justifiable to her? Why didn't the sight of blood in the stool suggest the need of assistance? What do the public expect of physicians in such cases? But why ask questions? Many mothers will doubt the existence of such a mother as is described above. They need not; she was one of my own patients. I do not understand such women; I only know that such mothers exist in quite large numbers. This particular mother has other children; she is a good housekeeper, is personally attractive, and is thought well of in the community. If such seemingly heartless conduct can spring from such a source is it not evidence of the fact that the average mother needs instruction, needs education, and does it not bespeak the need of eugenics being sown broadcast throughout the land?
Delays are dangerous in all sicknesses that last, despite a thorough cleaning out of the bowels. To wait, hoping that "things will change," is bad practice. It is unjust to the medical profession, and it is infinitely more unjust to the victim.