at St. Elizabeths there were ninety patients for each psychiatric attendant. Fascinated by the idea that one person would be expected to control so many potentially violent patients, I asked how the staff protected themselves. There were, she said, drugs that could control most of the patients, but, now and again, it became necessary to “hose them down.” “Hose them down”?! How could anyone be so out of control that they would require such a brute method of restraint? It was something I couldn’t get out of my mind.
