Death at the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians.
From 1903 to 1933, the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians housed hundreds of inmates in Canton, SD. It closed in 1933 in a cloud of scandal and controversy. Death certificate data from deceased inmates were analyzed for diagnostic cause of death and for age. These findings were compared to a sample of non-Asylum adult deaths for the same years in the same county. The inmates died younger (average age-42), and of tuberculosis (63 of 182 deaths). The historical import of this is discussed.
Soule
Bradley
B
Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, WV, USA.
Soule
Jennifer
J
D000328:Adult; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000266:history*; D009026:Mortality; D013023:South Dakota / Q000453:epidemiology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000266:history* / Q000401:mortality