Domingo Cabred

Domingo Felipe Cabred (20 December 1859 – 27 November 1929) was an Argentine physician, psychiatrist, and public health official. He established the first open-door treatment facility for the insane in the town of Open Door in Buenos Aires Province, after which the town is named. This type of colony was the first of its kind in Latin America.

Education and early work Cabred received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires in 1881 with a thesis titled Contribución al estudio de la locura refleja, specializing in the treatment of the mentally ill, who at the time were referred to as the "insane". He wrote articles and pamphlets on mental illnesses, some in collaboration with Ángel Roffo and José Tiburcio Borda.

Cabred, who succeeded Meléndez as director of the hospice, secured the support of fellow physician Eliseo Cantón, who was a National Deputy for Tucumán Province. Cantón succeeded in getting Law No. 3,548 approved in 1897, which ordered the creation of a National Colony for the Insane "subject to the rules of the new Scottish system of hospitalization and medical care of the open-door asylums".

Later years During the last years of his life, Cabred worked at the Hospicio de las Mercedes, where he wrote numerous articles and medico-legal reports related to psychiatry, which were published in scientific journals. Some of these dealt with the study of diseases in Europe; notable among these are Memoria sobre los asilos de Italia ("Report on the Asylums of Italy"), Memoria sobre la organización de los asilos de alienados en Inglaterra ("Report on the Organization of Asylums for the Insane in England"), and Estudio sobre los asilos abiertos en Alemania ("Study on Open Asylums in Germany"). Cabred died in the city of Buenos Aires on 27 November 1929, at the age of 69.

TitleType of workPublisherPlaceYearContribución al estudio de la locura refleja N/D *N/DN/DLa edad en la parálisis general N/DN/DN/DMemoria sobre la organización de los asilos de alienados en Inglaterra N/DN/DN/DMemoria sobre los asilos de Italia N/DN/DN/DMemoria sobre los institutos de sordo-mudos en Francia N/DN/DN/DEstudio sobre la clasificación de enfermedades mentales presentadas en el Congreso Internacional de Medicina Mental N/DN/DN/DEstudio sobre el "Open Door" y organización de los asilos abiertos en Escocia N/DN/DN/DEstudios sobre los asilos abiertos en Alemania N/DN/DN/DDiscurso inaugural de la Colonia Nacional de Alienados SpeechImp. del Hospicio de las MercedesBuenos Aires1908Alcoholismo. Sus causas en la República Argentina SpeechImp. del Hospicio de las MercedesBuenos Aires1917 N/D = No data

Tributes The Colonia Nacional de Alienados is currently named the Hospital Interzonal Psiquiátrico "Colonia Domingo Cabred" , in honor of its founder. In the city of Córdoba, there is a higher education institute that bears the physician's name. Furthermore, the railway station in Open Door bears his name in his honor.

An avenue in the town of Posadas is named after him, as he was responsible for overseeing the construction of the first regional hospital in Misiones Province. A neighborhood in the town of Temperley is named Villa Cabred in his honor, as he owned land in the area. The property bore the name that the neighborhood currently holds, and on it stood the Temperley hippodrome, which ceased operations in 1927. Following Cabred's death in 1929, the land was subdivided, an event that was repeated in 1941 and 1943; thus, the property was divided into city blocks and its settlement began under the name Villa Cabred.