TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Appointment of Commissioner James V. May, Superintendent of the Worcester (Mass.) State Asylum..... Standards of Medical Care in the State Hospitals and Licensed Institutions in New York State. By Dr. Walter G. Ryon.... 156 A Statistical Comparison of Operations and Results in the Several State Hospitals in 1915. By Horatio M. Pollock, Ph. D............ 168 Standards of State Care of the Insane as Shown by the Per Capita Cost of Maintenance. By T. E. McGarr. Minutes of Quarterly Conference, December 15, 1915... Bills Affecting the State Hospital Department Passed by Both APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONER JAMES V. MAY AS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE WORCESTER (MASS.) STATE ASYLUM. Dr. James V. May, medical member and chairman of the State Hospital Commission, having accepted appointment to the position of Superintendent of the Worcester State Asylum, located at Grafton, Mass., assumed the duties of the position on May 8, 1916. Dr. May served as State Hospital Commissioner since December 30, 1911, having been appointed on that date by Governor Dix to succeed Dr. Albert Warren Ferris, resigned. The following account of Dr. May's career up to the time of his appointment to the State Hospital Commission appeared in the State Hospital Bulletin in February, 1912: "Dr. May was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on July 6, 1873, and was graduated from the University of Kansas, receiving the degree of A. B. in 1894. His medical education was obtained at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1897. After graduation he served a full term as resident physician at the Philadelphia Hospital (Blockley) now known as the Philadelphia General Hospital. He served as an assistant physician at the Brigham Hall Hospital, a private institution for the insane at Canandaigua, N. Y., in 1899 and 1900. On April 20, 1900, he was appointed as acting assistant surgeon in the United States Army, remaining on active duty until September 10, 1902, and serving for over a year in the Philippine Islands. In recognition of these services he now holds a commission as first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army. Dr. May has been connected with the State hospital service since the time of his appointment as junior physician at the Manhattan State Hospital, Central Islip, in September, 1902. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the Binghamton State Hospital, where he served in the various grades of the medical staff and succeeded Dr. H. Wardner Eggleston as first assistant physician. He was married to Miss Ada L. Arms, daughter of Taylor L. Arms, of Binghamton, in June, 1905. Dr. May was appointed Medical Superintendent of the Matteawan State Hospital by Col. Joseph F. Scott, Superintendent of State Prisons, in August, 1911. He has been a frequent contributor to the various medical journals and magazines. As an assistant physician he attended several courses of instruction given by Dr. Adolf Meyer, at the Psychiatric Institute, and for a number of years had charge of the laboratory and pathological work at the Binghamton State Hospital. Dr. May is a member of the New York State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the American Medico-Psychological Association. He is a 32d degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine." RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY QUARTERLY CONFERENCE HELD AT BINGHAMTON, MAY 2, 1916. WHEREAS, The State of New York is to lose the services of Dr. James V. May by his resignation as State Hospital Commissioner, we, his fellow Commissioners, the Managers and the Superintendents of the State Hospitals have at this our quarterly meeting, in Binghamton, May 2, 1916, unanimously passed the following resolutions: RESOLVED, That we his associates for years convey to him in no perfunctory way our regard and our appreciation of the fair and conscientious manner in which he has discharged his duties as Commissioner, often under trying conditions. With him go not only our affectionate regard, but our best wishes for his future success and the health and happiness of his family. RESOLVED, That, while we congratulate the State of Massachusetts in acquiring Dr. May as Superintendent of the Grafton State Hospital, we feel that our State loses a Commissioner of ability, culture and highest integrity, an accomplished physician and an officer especially fitted for and devoted to the interests of the insane. RESOLVED, That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the conference and that one copy thereof be sent to Dr. May. [EDITORIAL-Utica Daily Press, April 18, 1916.] It is announced at Albany that Dr. May, who has been the medical member of the State Hospital Commission for some time, has resigned to accept the superintendency of a hospital in another State. He was formerly an assistant to Dr. Charles G. Wagner at Binghamton, and then by successive promotion secured the place which he has filled acceptably for some years. He is to be credited with having worked hard, done his best, laboring zealously to promote the welfare of the institutions, though at times it has seemed as if the Commission was expected to make bricks without straw. The State has been none too generous with these institutions and really ought to have done more in their behalf, but the Commission did and is doing all it can with what it has to do with, in the hope that more funds will be provided with which to do what is absolutely necessary and imperative. On many accounts the superintendency of an institution is a more attractive and certainly a much easier place. Dr. May leaves the service with the good will and good wishes of all officially connected with it, who hope that fame and fortune will attend him whenever he goes and whatever he does. STANDARDS OF MEDICAL CARE IN THE STATE HOSPITALS AND LICENSED INSTITU TIONS IN NEW YORK STATE BY WALTER G. RYON, M. D., In reviewing standards of medical care one must not only include the medical service, but the nursing service, the occupation and treatment of patients, and the after-care work of the hospitals as well. Each of our hospitals has a trained medical staff, a wellorganized training school for nurses, and excellent facilities for the amusement, occupation and medical treatment of patients, and it is well known that the medical work of our State hospitals is conducted on a high plane, and has for some time been looked upon as a standard by other States. It is not the purpose of this paper to describe in detail the examination, occupation or treatment of patients, but rather to bring to your attention some shortcomings in the medical work and care observed during the year, with a view to a wholesome discussion of the causes and their possible correction. A review of the medical work for the past year shows that of the 8516 admissions to our civil and criminal State hospitals, and regularly assigned to the members of the medical staff for examination, 1457 remained uncompleted and unsummarized, or in other words, a real study and careful formulation of these cases has not been made. This number excludes the Kings Park State Hospital, which reports that "since the reduction of the medical staff and the stenographic force in May, 1914, conditions have prevailed which rendered impossible, for the time being, the continuance of the preparation of summaries in all cases." Thus it may be reasonably concluded that at this hospital there has been no systematic attempt to summarize cases during the past fiscal year. |