VISITS TO CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL
SIR,—Your correspondent's letter raises a very acute problem. Parents would no doubt be willing to waive their rights if they were certain
that this was for the good of the child. But is it? The following experience may be of interest. Our baby of eight months had to be treated in hospital for a severe scald. According to the hospital rules I had no contact with him for over a fortnight ; after that he had apparently forgotten me so I was allowed to see him. This child at the age of five, though mentally rather advanced, cannot speak properly and shows various symptoms which caused us to take him for psychiatric advice. We were assured that this early shock of separation from both his home and parents was sufficient cause for his present trouble, and it was definitely stated to us by two psychiatrists that if I had been allowed to visit him and be with him the trouble would probably not have arisen. In this case there was no question of a sudden weaning ; the child had been already fully weaned before the accident. The dilemma for parents is an exceedingly painful
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