§ MR. HOPWOOD (Lancashire, S.E., Middleton)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Local Government Board whether he has received information that a man named William Wood Warner, who died of malignant small-pox, in the Birmingham City Hospital, on the 8th of April, 1893, and whom the medical officer of that hospital certified to be not vaccinated, had been vaccinated in the presence of his brothers and sisters now living; whether similar inaccuracies have been complained of to his Department in reference to other cases of deaths from small-pox in the same hospital; and whether he will have public inquiry made into these allegations, so as to ensure correctness in the corresponding entries in the Records of the Registrar General?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Sir W. FOSTER,) Derby, IlkestonSuch information was forwarded to the Local Government Board on April 20 by a Guardian of the King's Norton Union. Rut, on the other hand, the Board learn from the late chief assistant medical officer of the hospital that William Warner on admission to the hospital had no small-pox eruption which could have masked the most trivial vaccination mark, and that he presented no mark which in the least resembled a vaccination scar. The patient himself stated that he believed he had been vaccinated, but he was certain that no marks resulted from vaccination. As the result of much careful inquiry it was decided that the case should be entered as not vaccinated. This statement is fully confirmed by the late medical superintendent of the 35 hospital, who adds that every possible precaution was taken to ensure correct entry of the facts. As my hon. Friend is aware, submission to the operation of vaccination does not necessarily imply successful vaccination. Beyond a few general statements of the same Guardian, the Board have no information as to such complaints as those referred to in the second part of the question. The Board see no reason for holding any inquiry into the matter.