![]() ![]() His extreme views unfortunately reached wider than the Western State Hospital.ĭespite having opinions which now would largely be considered unfathomable, in his time DeJarnette was highly regarded in the medical community, with the opening of DeJarnette Sanitarium in 1932 a reflection of his public admiration.ĭeJarnette died in 1957, but eugenic sterilization continued in Virginia until 1979. He publicly supported Nazi Germany’s ambitious sterilization program beginning in 1933. In DeJarnette’s time at Western State Hospital, over 1,200 unconsenting sterilizations were performed, many by DeJarnette himself by methods including tubal ligation, vasectomy, and x-ray exposure. Thanks in part to his lobbying, the Virginia General Assembly authorized eugenic sterilization in 1924.ĭr. DeJarnette was a public advocate for eugenics as early as 1908, when he recommended the prohibition of marriages for certain groups and the sterilization of mentally disabled people. Joseph DeJarnette’s appointment as director in 1905, the hospital (now called Western State Hospital) found itself in a steep decline in the quality of patient treatment.Įugenics, the study of how to arrange reproduction in a population to increase desirable characteristics, was a movement largely associated with Hitler and The Holocaust during World War II. His main goal was to understand the mental health of his patients and maintain a humane facility. ![]() Considering the time, Stribling appeared to do his best by patients using “medical and moral therapy,” including providing nutritious food, exercise opportunities, and caretakes who were instructed to increase patient’s self-esteem. The first director of the Western State Lunatic Asylum was Dr. Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services
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