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Episode #524

Snap It Out

#525 Snap It Out
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credit: Oregon State Hospital kitchen (Courtesy of Oregon State Hospital Museum of Mental Health)

Karen:

The 1942 Oregon State Hospital poisoning

Episode sources:

  1. “Inside Oregon State Hospital: A History of Triumph and Tragedy” by Diane L Goeres-Gardner and John Terry

  2. “44 Dead, 400 Ill from Poisoned Eggs” (Spokane Daily Chronicle) 1942

  3. “How one incident caused 47 patients to die at the Oregon State Hospital” by Capi Lynn (Statesman Journal) 2017

  4. “Death by Fluoride” (Time Magazine) 1942

  5. “Man who accidentally fatally poisoned 47 patients in 1942 dies” (UPI) 1983

  6. “The powder in the basement: how an unlabeled poison inspired federal legislative change” by Keahi M Horowitz, Robert G Hendrickson, Adam Blumenberg (National Library of Medicine) 2022

  7. “Rationing on the homefront” (National Museum of the Pacific War) 2024

  8. “Rationing” (National World War 2 Museum)

  9. “A fresh start at Oregon State Hospital” (Oregon Mental Health Archive) 2010

  10. “Victory Gardens and Farms” (USDA)

  11. “Horrifying asylum poison mix-up left dozens dead” by Finn J.D. John (Offbeat Oregon) 2012

  12. “State care of mentally ill marked by tragedies (Statesman Journal) 1976

  13. “Acute Sodium Fluoride Poisoning” by William L. Lidbeck, Irvin B. Hill, Joseph A. Beeman (JAMA) 1943

  14. “New and Proposed Policies Affecting Access to Mental Health Care” (APA) 2026

  15. “Federal cuts to behavioral health will harm public safety” by Josephine Wonsun Hahn, Rosemary Nidiry (Brennan Center) 2025  

  16. “From Asylum to Community” by David Cutler, Zeb Larson, Jason Renaud, and Barry Kast (Oregon Historical Quarterly) 2022

  17. “The last bill JFK signed – and the mental health work still undone” by Vic DiGravio (WBUR) 2013

  18. “Special Message to the Congress on Mental Illness and Mental Retardation” by John F Kennedy (The American Presidency Project) 1963

 
 
 

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