For the second time in history, a woman student was admitted to Stillman Infirmary this week. Hygiene Department officials offered slightly conflicting views as to whether any policy change was involved in the admission, but all emphasized that Stillman facilities were not adapted to caring for women.
"We ordinarily try to treat women patients in their rooms," explained Dana L. Farnsworth, Director of the University Health Service, "and only in exceptional circumstances do we take them at Stillman. It is almost impossible to care for women there," he concluded.
The patient, a third-year Law student, was released yesterday after a couple of days in the Infirmary. Her illness was described as "not serious."
John B. Butler, executive assistant to Fransworth, said that no new policy was being established, and explained that the admission was of an "experimental" nature. He suggested, as did Farnsworth, that the projected new infirmary between Holyoke and Dunster Streets would include adequate facilities for women patients, of whom there are about 200 in the various graduate schools.
Dr. Andrew W. Contratto, physician to the Hygiene Department, explained that is impossible to provide care for women patients identical to that for men, and said, "We intend to use the Infirmary only for short-term diseases for women, and then only in unusual circumstances."
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