Charter of Foundation
Executed the fourth day of March, 1893
Whereas the care of the nervous and the sleepless in this county has been committed to almshouses, to jails, and to the patience of families ill-equipped to provide it;
And whereas the undersigned holds that the disordered mind is not a moral failing but a condition of the body, susceptible to study, to record, and in time to remedy;
Be it known that there is established at Ashgrove, upon the land described in the schedule annexed, a private hospital for the reception, observation and treatment of persons of unsound sleep and nervous complaint, to be known as
ASHGROVE ASYLUM
and to be conducted upon the following principles.
I. Of admission
Admission shall be voluntary in every case. No person shall be received against their will, nor retained upon the application of a relative alone. The hospital does not exist to relieve families of their difficulties.
II. Of observation
Every patient shall be observed nightly, and the observation recorded in a standing file kept in that patient's name. The file shall not be closed upon discharge. It shall not be closed upon death.
III. Of the record
The record is the work. A treatment not written down did not occur. The Institution shall maintain its files in perpetuity, and shall not destroy a file for want of space, for embarrassment, or upon request.
IV. Of discharge
No patient shall be discharged who is not, in the judgement of the attending physician, returned to the condition in which they were admitted.
V. Of the undersigned
The Institution shall remain in the hands of the family so long as there is a hand to hold it.
