Isolation of Leprosy Patients What started as a problem with a horrible disease, led to the isolation of leprosy patients. It was difficult for these patients to settle down and build a home; communities feared the spread of the disease. The government took an old plantation to create a hospital for leprosy patients. The old plantation was called Hospital #66 or better known as Carville. “Over a long period of time, the disease can be disfiguring and societies have stigmatized victims of the disease. This attribute is deeply discrediting as the stigmatized individual is disqualified from full social acceptance. Leprosy was therefore feared, not because it killed, but because it left one alive without hope." (P1. E 2, Sato, H., & Frantz, J. (2005). Ending leprosy isolation policy in the United States and Japan: Science, policy changes, and the garbage can model.) People believed to have from this disease they were brought to Carville to be quarantined; some patients were placed in chains against their will. Patients were forced to leave behind everything they knew and loved, including friends, family, and children. While scientists worked to find a cure, policyholders who conducted legislative procedures defined and implemented the problem; policies were designed to isolate sick patients as a prevention of further spread of the disease. The patients were even feared by the medical staff and did not want to help these sick patients. Seeing the needs of these patients, a group of nuns called the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul stepped forward and offered compassion. The disease is first noticed by changes in the skin, usually on the hands and feet. In the film Triumph at Carville directed by John Wilhelm and Sally Squires, a patient said...... middle of paper ... the solitary confinement policy provided patients with some social support, but continually deprived them of their civil liberties. Furthermore, the policy as an authoritative statement about the disease may have fostered the social stigma associated with the belief that the disease is a terrible contagion, thus maintaining a barrier to patients' reintegration into society. Evidently, the abolition of this policy was not easily achievable nor was it achieved solely thanks to the advancement of scientific knowledge.” (P. 10)Carville addressed what the audience feared on multiple levels and was able to overcome it. As terrible as it was for patients, they were the first to say it was worth it. The Daughters of Charity and the doctors took on an arduous task and solved the problem. All patients commented that the sisters showed love and compassion making them feel at home.