It could never happen in this day and age..

GeoffC · 07-28-2008, 03:32 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/7523680.stm

Could it?

slayda · 07-28-2008, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/7523680.stm

Could it?

The joys of society!

pshrynk · 07-28-2008, 10:37 AM

Pre-antibiotic typhoid fever was a public health scourge. There were people who contracted the disease and recovered, rather than dying. They sometimes became "carriers" which meant that they passed the disease on without having symptoms themselves. These people were considered extremely dangerous to the public. The women in this article may have been carriers and may have been isolated in order to keep them from spreading a deadly disease.

Also, the conditions at mental hospitals were not nearly as inhumane as they are portrayed by Holywood. There were massive regulations in place and the superintendants had a professional society that strove to improve the care and comfort of the residents.

So, being placed at an asylum was most likely considered the most humane method of protecting the public from a devastating disease.

GeoffC · 07-28-2008, 10:43 AM

It is, though, still a harrowing thought that even when antibiotics became available, that some people remained in an incarcerated state...

Think of the outcome if, for example, all those with HIV - Hep-B - etc were treated in the same way...

To 'pinch a phrase' - "we sacrifice the lives of the few, in favour of the many"...

Geoff
(glad to be in a more enlightened century)

VillageReader · 07-28-2008, 10:47 AM

Suggested reading - Preston's "The Demon in the Freezer".

Sparrow · 07-28-2008, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

To 'pinch a phrase' - "we sacrifice the lives of the few, in favour of the many"...
...
(glad to be in a more enlightened century)

But we still do sacrifice innocent lives for what some perceive to be the greater good.

RickyMaveety · 07-28-2008, 11:28 AM

It happened in this country too. We still make reference to one woman, who in the early 1900s was isolated at a small facility. I forget her last name, but everyone knows her as "Typhoid Mary." I think she was of Irish ancestry and a cook at one of the weathier homes before her incarceration.

Of course, before Father Damien got there (to Molokai), conditions of those isolated for having Hansen's Disease were absolutely deplorable. However, it was felt that it was absolutely necessary to keep them apart from the general population because there were no treatments.

It's such a dicey question. What do you do with a large population of people with a communicable and deadly disease for which there is no treatment or cure??

Patricia · 07-28-2008, 11:30 AM

The most famous case of compulsory quarantine was that of Typhoid Mary in the USA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary

Steven Lyle Jordan · 07-28-2008, 04:45 PM

I could easily believe it could happen today, given enough concern about the public welfare versus the disease in question. (We can all say "Guantanemo." Not much difference.)

But given the disease-related threats (ebola, for instance) and swift global transmittal vectors today, it is likely that the disease would spread far too fast to be contained in such a way. More likely, healthy people would try to seal themselves off from the sick by blockading towns, screening visitors, etc... if they did anything at all.

07-28-2008, 03:32 AM	#1
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	It could never happen in this day and age.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/7523680.stm Could it?

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07-28-2008, 10:37 AM	#3
pshrynk Beepbeep n beebeep, yeah! Posts: 11,726 Karma: 8255450 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, aka America's IceBox Device: iThingie, KmkII, I miss Zelda!	Pre-antibiotic typhoid fever was a public health scourge. There were people who contracted the disease and recovered, rather than dying. They sometimes became "carriers" which meant that they passed the disease on without having symptoms themselves. These people were considered extremely dangerous to the public. The women in this article may have been carriers and may have been isolated in order to keep them from spreading a deadly disease. Also, the conditions at mental hospitals were not nearly as inhumane as they are portrayed by Holywood. There were massive regulations in place and the superintendants had a professional society that strove to improve the care and comfort of the residents. So, being placed at an asylum was most likely considered the most humane method of protecting the public from a devastating disease.

07-28-2008, 10:43 AM	#4
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	It is, though, still a harrowing thought that even when antibiotics became available, that some people remained in an incarcerated state... Think of the outcome if, for example, all those with HIV - Hep-B - etc were treated in the same way... To 'pinch a phrase' - "we sacrifice the lives of the few, in favour of the many"... Geoff (glad to be in a more enlightened century)

07-28-2008, 10:47 AM	#5
VillageReader Evangelist Posts: 430 Karma: 2718 Join Date: May 2006 Device: Iliad	Suggested reading - Preston's "The Demon in the Freezer".

07-28-2008, 11:28 AM	#7
RickyMaveety Holy S**T!!! Posts: 5,213 Karma: 108401 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: San Diego, California!! Device: Kindle and iPad	It happened in this country too. We still make reference to one woman, who in the early 1900s was isolated at a small facility. I forget her last name, but everyone knows her as "Typhoid Mary." I think she was of Irish ancestry and a cook at one of the weathier homes before her incarceration. Of course, before Father Damien got there (to Molokai), conditions of those isolated for having Hansen's Disease were absolutely deplorable. However, it was felt that it was absolutely necessary to keep them apart from the general population because there were no treatments. It's such a dicey question. What do you do with a large population of people with a communicable and deadly disease for which there is no treatment or cure??

07-28-2008, 11:30 AM	#8
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	The most famous case of compulsory quarantine was that of Typhoid Mary in the USA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary

07-28-2008, 04:45 PM	#9
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	I could easily believe it could happen today, given enough concern about the public welfare versus the disease in question. (We can all say "Guantanemo." Not much difference.) But given the disease-related threats (ebola, for instance) and swift global transmittal vectors today, it is likely that the disease would spread far too fast to be contained in such a way. More likely, healthy people would try to seal themselves off from the sick by blockading towns, screening visitors, etc... if they did anything at all.

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