Hospitals: Instead of the Bedpan

With its top and sides closed, the walnut-grain cabinet looks like an executive's liquor locker. In fact, it is technology's latest answer to one of the oldest but least discussed of all the problems of hospital care: how to let patients perform natural functions in relaxed privacy, without waiting for an assisted trip to the bathroom, or the discomfort of the bedpan. For when they are faced with so inhibiting a situation, many embarrassed patients develop elimination difficulties severe enough to require extra medical and nursing care.

The remedy offered by California's Monogram Industries Inc. is a self-contained toilet modeled on those used in aircraft. It can be rolled to the bed side and locked there. When its top and sides are opened, they form screens to give the patient privacy. With the help of a "grab bar," he can slide from bed to toilet without putting weight on his legs. Though the flushing unit is designed for 12-volt D.C. operation, it can also work on standard house and hospital A.C. A pushbutton activates a mechanism for pumping 81 gallons of deodorant, disinfectant flushing solution —enough, say the manufacturers, for 80 or more uses. Its convenience, they say, extends beyond hospitals and other institutions to the private home (if it can afford the unit price of $495) where a family member is convalescent or bedridden.