The Doctor Who Didn't Report Scarlet Fever
A Seattle physician is hauled into court for failing to tell the health office about a sick child — a test of the city's power to track contagious disease.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Dr. J. G. Stewart, of 1511 Front street, was arrested last evening on a warrant sworn out in the municipal court by Health Officer Palmer, charging him with violating city ordinance No. 2,406, in relation to reporting contagious diseases. The case in question is that of Zephyr Penton, aged 10 years, who is ill at the corner of Birch and Willard streets with scarlet fever. It is claimed that Dr. Stewart was called in to examine the case last Saturday or Sunday, but failed to make a report to the health office. The neighbors learned that there was a case of scarlet fever in the vicinity, and brought the matter before Dr. Palmer. Dr. Weed also reported the matter. The city ordinance in relation to such cases is quite severe on persons who violate its provisions. It says that physicians must report every patient he shall have sick of typhus, typhoid, ship or yellow fever, smallpox, cholera, diphtheria or scarlatina, or be subject to a fine of not less than $10 or more than $100, or imprisonment not to exceed three months. It also provides that both fine and imprisonment may be imposed. Dr. Stewart was released on his personal recognizance to appear in the municipal court this afternoon.
“Physicians must report every patient he shall have sick of typhus, typhoid, ship or yellow fever, smallpox, cholera, diphtheria or scarlatina, or be subject to a fine of not less than $10 or more than $100, or imprisonment not to exceed three months.”
Compulsory disease reporting — and the penalties for skipping it — is a through-line from 1895 to today. Then it was scarlet fever and a ten-year-old on Birch Street; now it's measles outbreaks and mandatory case reporting, with the same friction between individual physicians and the collective good.
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