Medical Malpractice

Did most asylums treat patients abusively before Nellie Bly exposed the asylum on Blackwell's Island?

In the late 1800s, American journalist Nellie Bly exposed Blackwell's abusive treatment to patients. Before that time, were many other asylums across the world like that? Be specific please. I'm just wondering what kind of things they did to patients.

Public Comments

1. I don't know because nellie bly was the only one to do such a thing.... that I heard of. I think it was an all female asylum anyhow...so they don't know what conditions for men were like. I know specific examples of what they did in Nellie;s place. She said for baths they would just throw like ice water on people and sometimes not feed them. Good thing Nellie Bly made it out alive though.... alot of the patients in that particular setting died I believe.
2. My Dad told me that originally-these places were called poor houses..insane asylyms..??..were known for experimenting on people..science was in a poor state itself..I think if you consider a BED SORE--you may view alot of abuse in this world where science tends to relate some advantage..BUT YES..insane asylyms are a place of abuse..because of the crowded conditions..its not really meant to happen--IT JUST HAPPENS.
3. Treatment of mental patients had frequently been somewhat harsh. In England, for example, people used to visit insane asylums to view the inmates as if they were animals in a zoo. Dorothea Dix did much to improve treatment of mental patients in the USA earlier in the 19th century. Her priority was to have seperate facilities for the mentally ill, rather than having them housed with criminals, and for their ropes and chains to be removed. She played a direct role in the founding of 32 mental hospitals, so that the USA increased its number of asylums from 13 in 1843 to 123 in 1880. Her human policies laid the groundwork for psychotheraputic work. Unfortunately, there are always people who will abuse the weak and defenceless, including mental patients. Places that care for those unable to defend themselves always seem to attract those with a cruel streak. Mental patients, the old, children, are still at risk of being subject to cruelty today. Human nature does not change much, and cruelty will, I am afraid, always be with us.