The State of New York yesterday applied for an injunction to prevent the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society of Denver from raising funds in this state on charges that the organization has practiced “deceit” and “misrepresentation” and has failed to provide adequate, modern medical services. The application was filed by the office of Attorney General Nathaniel L. Goldstein, which pointed out that the J.C.R.S. was not associated with either the National Jewish Hospital or the National Jewish Home for Crippled Children, both of Denver.
The charges were denied by Mitchell Salem Fisher, attorney for the hospital, who labelled them “plain nonsense” and added that the Attorney General has no proof to support them. Mr. Fisher also called the action another development in an internal political fight.
In defending the hospital, Mr. Fisher declared that the Colorado Board of Health had conducted an examination of its facilities in January, 1948, and had found it to be “modern, well-equipped, efficiently managed with the latest modern methods of treatment used for patients.” He also quoted a letter from Gov. Lee Knous, dated December 22, 1948, in which the Governor termed the hospital “an outstanding institution of healing and medical research.”
The Attorney General’s petition stated that in 1947 the hospital raised $820,000 nationally, with $327,000 being collected in New York. It charged that the funds were obtained because contributors were led to believe that “the organization is operating a modern, completely equipped, properly staffed and medically superior type of institution for the care and treatment of victims of tuberculosis.” Asserting that this was not so, the affidavit said that soliciting funds under these circumstances was “tantamount to a fraud on the public.”
Assistant Attorney General Theodore R. Ostrow, who filed the petition, said that during most of its existence the organization had justified the faith of the public in its work, but that some time ago the patients had organized a grievance committee to make known their dissatisfaction with the present hospital administration and services. As a result, he said, the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society’s advisory council in New York had appointed an investigating committee to check into the patients’ charges.
The results of this investigation, Mr. Ostrow said, showed that the hospital had not made available to patients such modern treatment as lobectomy and pneumonectomy, that there had not been an adequate check-up of patients, that routine examinations were not made and that a consultative staff was not maintained. He added that patients were denied certain drugs because of their alleged costliness.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
