Word: buttonhook
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...heart, L for limp, X for mental defect. With still evident embarrassment, Sophie recalls a distressing moment when a nurse "put her hand under my skirt. She was checking for I don't know what, but she did it to everyone." Then a doctor dipped a buttonhook into an antiseptic solution and used it to flip back the eyelid. The reason: to check for trachoma, a blinding disease that would leave the immigrant an unwanted public charge. Trachoma was the most common medical reason for sending immigrants back to their native countries. (In fact, out of 12 million...