A Statewide Plan for Care of the Poisoned Patient: The Massachusetts Poison Control System

An estimated five million poisonings occur in the United States each year, causing over 5000 deaths. As a cause of accidental death, poisonings are surpassed only by motor-vehicle accidents, drownings and burns.1 This problem did not begin to attract sufficient attention to initiate professional and legislative activity until the late 1940's and early 1950's.2 As a result of the Cooperative efforts of the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Illinois State Health Department and seven major hospitals, the first poison control center was established in 1953 as a pilot project in Chicago.3 Others followed, and the poison . . .