§ Mr. LANSBURYasked the President of the Local Government Board if his attention has been drawn to the case of William James Kent, aged twelve years, of Camberwell, who was removed from his home to the South Wharf of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and vaccinated there in spite of the protests of the father that he was a conscientious objector and had obtained exemption for the boy from a Metropolitan police magistrate; whether he is aware that the boy was afterwards taken to the Joyce Green Hospital amongst a number of small-pox patients, and, after having been detained there for sixteen days, was sent home again, the medical superintendent having written that he could not say definitely what had been the matter with the boy; and will he say what action he proposes to take in the matter?
§ Mr. BURNSI have inquired into the case of William James Kent. I find that he was supposed to foe suffering from small-pox, and was sent to South Wharf on 9th March. The medical officer there, having some doubt whether the diagnosis was correct, but realising that the boy had been exposed to the infection of small-pox, took the responsibility of vaccinating him. The nurse who removed the case to the South Wharf informed the doctor that the father did not want the boy to be vaccinated, but no other protest was, as I understand, made. While there was a doubt as to the diagnosis, the patient could not be safely returned home, and he was, therefore, sent to Joyce Green, where he remained till the 25th March, when he was discharged.