The Committee appointed under a resolution of this House,
authorizing an examination into the medical department of the army, to enquire
into the practical workings of the system, and to point out abuses, if any are
found to exist, &c., beg leave to present the following report:
The resolution is very comprehensive in its character, as
it appears to open up the whole field connected with our military operations.
Confined, however, as the Committee have been, by the discharge of their regular
duties as members of this body, they have only been enabled to make a personal
examination of the hospitals in this city and its suburbs, and have been
compelled to rely on other sources for information as to the workings of the
system in the field.
We find that at this time there are some twenty hospitals
in the city where sick and wounded soldiers are treated, and capable of
accommodating some five or six thousand patients. They are partly under
Government and State control, whole others are under exclusive Government
control. Those of them that are under State auspices receive rations or
commutation therefor from the Government; the nurse hire is also paid and the
medicines furnished. There is a scarcity of medicines to a considerable extent,
and those having charge of State hospitals occasionally make purchases in
addition to what is furnished them. The State hospitals are superior to those of
the Government in two respects. We found the bedding more clean, and a greater
amount of what might be called delicacies for the sick, as from the liberal
State and private contributions a larger fund has been furnished with which to
make purchases. In [page 2] all the hospitals there was found to be sufficient
cleanliness in the floors and walls and in the culinary department; or we might
use stronger language and say that in all these respects they are worthy of
commendation. The same remark will apply to the food furnished, it being good in
quality and well prepared. In all, too, so far as we could judge, the sick are
kindly treated, and do not suffer for want of attention. The chief ground of
complaint in the Government hospitals - with the exceptions presently to be
named - was the want of cleanliness in the bedding; the sheets in many instances
evidently being used too long without being changed.
While the Bird’s Island Hospital, in common with other
Government hospitals, is obnoxious to this criticism, we also found the vessels
used in its wards, such as spittoons, etc., to receive too little attention, and
to be somewhat offensive. The Government hospitals, that, in the particulars on
which we are commenting, received the approval of the committee, on the General,
the Banner, and Royster’s Factory. The latter we mention particularly as being a
model of neatness, and as reflecting great credit on those who have it in
charge. We mention this with the greater pleasure, as it affords convincing
proof that the present regulations, if properly enforced, are amply sufficient
to afford our sick and wounded soldiers all the “aid and comfort” they could
reasonably expect to find short of home. The attention of the committee was
specially called to two very important subjects, to-wit: discharges and
furloughs. The present system of procuring discharges is, in the unanimous
opinion of the committee, very objectionable. The plan now adopted is as
follows: The Surgeon makes application to the Surgeon-General; if the
Surgeon-General approves of the application, he makes his endorsement, and it is
then forwarded to the captain under whom the sick man serves. He is expected
also to approve, as well as the Colonel and the General commanding. In which
case an order for the discharge of the applicant is issued and addressed to the
Hospital surgeon. Thus it will be seen the whole process is tedious, in the
opinion of the committee wholly unnecessary, and wholly inefficient. Indeed, if
the intention had been to keep disabled soldiers as long as possible in the
wards of a hospital, breathing the impure air of such places, then the present
system is one that is entitled to preference over all others, as it most
effectually accomplishes that object. We call special [page 3] attention to the
following objections to this system as above detailed. In the first place we
would remark that the army officers are incapable of judging the propriety or
impropriety of the discharges, because of the fact that they have not seen the
patient for weeks, it may be for months, and cannot, therefore, in the very
nature of the case, have any personal knowledge of the condition of such
patient. Again - the delay which must, of necessity result, as the experience f
the last six months proves. The army is frequently moving, so that the
application often fails to reach the military officer; or the officer may
himself be sick, so as to be unable to attend to the matter; or his attention
being taken up with other matters, that he may perchance consider of pressing
importance, the papers are laid aside for the time being, or perhaps are
entirely forgotten and never acted on at all, or until the attention of the
officer is again called to the matter by the intervention of some friend of the
sick man. At any rate your committee have seen patients in the hospitals of the
city, utterly broken down in health, and who, notwithstanding the recommendation
of both the Surgeon and the Surgeon-General, have waited in vain for months for
a release from their present uncomfortable position. Both the interests of the
service and the consideration of humanity imperatively demand that some more
effectual mode of procuring discharges should be adopted.
It is now, to, exceedingly difficult to procure a furlough,
while the committee are satisfied that cogent reasons may be given for the
adoption of a more liberal policy in this matter. There are many convalescents
who will still be in the hospitals weeks before being able to do duty. These
patients would recover much more rapidly if on furlough, breathing the purer air
and receiving the kinder attentions of home. The beds thus vacated could be
appropriated to other patients, thus greatly increasing the capacity of the
hospitals to accommodate a greater number of patients in a given time. One other
fact is worthy of attention. It is now universally conceded that typhoid fever
is, to a certain extent, a contagious affection. Now it often happens that
convalescents from other diseases, as they linger for some time about the
hospitals before being able to return to service, contract this serious malady,
and in too many instances succumb under it. The testimony of the surgeons in
uniform on this point. It is then, in the opinion of the committee, much to be
desired that relief should, in this respect, be extended to our sick and
suffering soldiers. [page 4]
The committee would also call attention to one or two
matters connected with the medical department in the field.
We think that the present arrangement allowing only one
surgeon and one assistant surgeon is not sufficient to meet the wants of the
service. The committee forbear, however, to enlarge on this point, but will only
state that the surgeon general concurs in this opinion, and recommends that an
additional assistant surgeon should be appointed for every regiment. On enquiry,
we find that the transportation for medical stores in insufficient. The wagons
that were furnished for this purpose to the army of the Potomac have been used
to a great extent for hauling wood and other articles, and the result has been
that the wagons have been broken, and now there is scarcely any transportation
of the kind, and a large amount of medicines, bandages, &c, have been, at
various times, abandoned or destroyed. As a remedy, we would suggest that the
use of such wagons should be limited absolutely to the transportation of medical
stores.
The committee have thus given a fair and impartial
statement of facts, and have made such suggestions as, in our opinion, would
promote the public weal and add to the comfort and efficiency of those brave and
patriotic men on whom the country relies in this hour of trial. All of which is
most respectfully.
