Solving the problems of the tuberculous war veteran.

A great deal has been written about the problems of the tuberculous war veteran. The impression has been created that he is an individual set apart from the rest of the communal family and is somewhat of a problem child. Public attention having been focused on this thought, it has been assumed that all the problems in connection with the hospitalization of the tubercubus veteran, are indigenous to this particular group of people. It has been generally accepted that the most serious problem of the tuberculous war veteran is the difficulty in keeping him continuously hospitalized until his disease has become arrested or until he has attained the maximum benefit from hospitalization and will no longer be a menace to the communty. However, a careful study of the subject indicates that a similar problem exists in most tuberculosis hospitals in this country. Tuberculosis Topics’ reports that approximately 30 per cent of the patients in all the tuberculosis hospitals in the United States left institutions against medical advice during the war years. Drolet2 made a survey of tuberculous patients discharged from 41 institutions in the New York metropolitan area, which includes adjacent New Jersey. He found that out of 10,620 patients discharged during the year of 1945, approximately 29 per cent left against medical advice. In one of these hospitals, out of a total of 257 discharges, 89 per cent left against medical advice and in another hospital 55 per cent left against medical advice out of a total of 1,045 discharges. It is generally recognized that an arrest of the disease can be attained in the majority of cases of minimal and moderately advanced and in a considerable percentage of far advanced cases of pulmonary tuberculosis, if the patient remains continuously hospitalized long enough under appropriate treatment. The study of the causes for irregular discharges from tuber-