deceptive beauty

Excerpts from an interview with Teresa Medeghini, who once worked as a nurse in the asylums in the 1950s.

"Those in admission were treated with insulin. We started with a low dosage and got to give them a lot of insulin until they went into a coma: the first coma lasted 5 minutes, the second of the next day, 10 minutes and then, at the maximum time that could be kept in that state . Then they were made to wake up with intravenous dextrose: this was the task of the Poverelle Sisters, among whom was also my sister Carla.

If they didn't wake up even with the first 50cc of dextrose, they kept adding quantities. But sometimes they just didn't wake up from a coma, so the patients were beaten. For example, I remember a girl who we were slapping in two: she had an unrecognizable face, when here relatives came to visit, they refused to let them see her. "