The Second Invention: The Disposable Emesis Basin
Bessie Blount’s feeding device was not her only medical innovation. While working as a physical therapist — at some point while caring for an elderly patient who needed medical equipment — she invented a second device: a disposable emesis basin.
An emesis basin (also called a kidney dish or vomit bowl) is a kidney-shaped container used to collect bodily fluids and waste in medical settings. The standard emesis basins in use in hospitals and medical facilities at the time were reusable — made from metal or hard plastic, they were cleaned and sterilized between uses. Each cleaning cycle required staff time, cleaning supplies, and the guarantee of effective sterilization to prevent cross-contamination.
Blount’s innovation was to make the basin disposable, fabricating it from baked newspaper, flour, and water. The materials were cheap, biodegradable, and entirely single-use: after one use, the basin could be discarded rather than cleaned.
The practical advantages were considerable. Staff time spent on cleaning and sterilizing basins could be redirected to patient care. The risk of inadequate sterilization — and thus the risk of cross-contamination between patients — was eliminated. The materials cost would be lower than the equivalent cleaning supply cost over time.
She brought this to the Veterans Administration.
The VA declined again.
The disposable emesis basin also was not patented in America. Some sources indicate it was adopted by Belgium and used in Belgian hospitals. Others note simply that the VA was “not interested.”
The pattern was clear by now: Bessie Blount had ideas that worked. American institutions, for reasons that may have included budget concerns but also reflected the specific dynamics of who she was and what she represented, declined to use them. Other countries were willing.