Fonds PR-2316 - Hollywood Hospital fonds

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Hollywood Hospital fonds

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  • textual record

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Fonds

Reference code

PR-2316

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

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Date(s)

  • 1957 - [1975?] (Creation)
    Creator
    Hollywood Hospital (New Westminster, B.C.)

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Physical description

5.2 m of textual records

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Administrative history

The Hollywood Hospital was founded in 1919 in New Westminster, B.C. as the Hollywood Sanitarium. It was a private hospital for the treatment of alcoholics and patients with other addictions. Hollywood became well-known in British Columbia as a facility that treated prominent and wealthy members of society, including a number of celebrities. The Hollywood Sanitarium changed its name to the Hollywood Hospital in 1959. In 1957, the Medical Director, Dr. J. Ross MacLean, began experimenting with the use of LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs in the treatment of alcoholism and a variety of personality disorders. He and his colleagues reported good results. However, the LSD treatments were viewed suspiciously by the wider medical community and the provincial government, and by 1975 MacLean had been pressured into closing the hospital.

Custodial history

MS-3092 LSD-patient case files were given to therapist Frank Ogden by Dr. J. Ross MacLean after the hospital closed. Frank Ogden worked at the hospital from 1961 to 1968. They remained with Ogden until their transfer to the RBCM in 2012 and 2013 (R1561 and R1652). Wendy Cook was the transferring agent, acting as power-of-attorney for Frank Ogden.

MS-3093 patient case files were stored at Riverview Hospital from 1975 to 1987, and then in government custody in offsite storage from 1987 to 1995. The Ministry of Health Records Officer indicated in 2012 that Riverview Hospital took them in as a “convenience” upon the closure of Hollywood Hospital, and that the records were in fact non-government. They were transferred to the B.C. Archives in 1995 after a selection had been made.

Scope and content

There are two series of files: MS-3092 consists of 510 case files for patients treated with hallucinogenic drugs at Hollywood Hospital, with opening file dates from 1957 to 1968. As some patients returned for later treatments some of the material may date from the early 1970's. These files were kept in a separate series from Hollywood's other patient case files.

Most of the files contain correspondence and an autobiography recording answers to questions about early childhood, family relations, sexual history, mental health issues and problems with addictions. A standard file would also include a Minnesota Personality Profile, an analysis by a psychiatrist, a medical report on overall health, and a detailed log of the drugs that were administered and the patient's behavior while undergoing the hallucinogenic experience. Patients were also encouraged to prepare a report on their experience after the session, and to evaluate its benefit.

The case files are arranged in ascending order by patient case file number. Box 1 of MS-3092 contains index cards, filed alphabetically by patient name. Based on this index, more than 800 patients were treated with hallucinogenic drugs at the Hollywood Hospital, but only two thirds of the files have been located and transferred.

MS-3093 contains alphabetically-arranged index cards (Boxes 121 and 122) and selected patient case files for Hollywood Hospital patients who were NOT treated with hallucinogens (10 boxes). The majority of the patients were treated for alcoholism. MS-3093 patient files were created between 1944 and 1975.

The files consist mainly of Patient Identification Sheets, Physician's Orders and Progress Notes, Clothing and Article Lists, Laboratory Reports, History and Physical Examinations, Admission-Separation Records, and Consent for Treatment forms. Approximately 8% of the original 15,000 files were selectively retained, based on their year of file closure.

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Restrictions on access

The records and the file lists are restricted. Please contact the Information and Privacy Manager for access conditions to these records.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

File list for Accession 2013.4.1, LSD treatment files, available from Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy staff.

Associated materials

Admissions and discharge register for 1968-1973 is found in GR-0960.

Related materials

Accruals

General note

Accession number(s): 87-0777; 2013.4.1

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