STILLMAN NEGLIGENCE REVISITED

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

In response to the communication by Messrs. Polacheck and Sandquist which you headed "Stillman Negligence," I wish to report that at 1:25 p.m. on December 4, the nurse in charge at Stillman received a call from the Harvard operator, saying that a man was having a heart attack in the Yard in front of Widener Library. The physician on duty left the infirmary at 1:30 p.m. having assembled appropriate emergency equipment, including a portable oxygen supply. He went in his own car to the site as quickly as it was possible for him to do so, but the Rescue Squad from the Cambridge Fire Department, located approximately 100 yards from the scene of the episode, had already taken the man to the Cambridge City Hospital.

Inquiry from any one of us in the University Health Services would have elicited these facts. I regret the erosion of confidence in the University Health Services that is caused by one-sided presentation of events such as this, as well as an earlier one that was reported in your columns. Our physicians happen to be conscientious thoughtful men and women who are desirous of serving the Harvard community to the best of their ability, and so far I have not found them wanting. The inconveniences of our present physical facilities are painfully apparent to all of us; that is why the new Health Center is being constructed. Dana L. Farnsworth, M.D.   Director   University Health Services.