DOCTOR UPHELD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 224, 20 September 1940, Page 9

DOCTOR UPHELD.

CLAIM FOR £1000. BROKEN NEEDLE IN SPINE. (By Air.) SYDNEY, September 18. Medical opinion was given in the Supreme Court this week that the broken portion of a hypodermic needle in the soft tissue of a man's back would not cause him any harm and would be extremely unlikely to cause pain. The evidence was given when Frank Albert Cannis, of Coogee, claimed £1000 damages from Dr. A. S. Johnson, of Macquarie Street, formerly junior resident doctor at the Koyal Prince Alfred Hospital. Cannis had been bed-ridden for five years and was carried into Court on a stretcher to give his evidence. He said that in August, 1933, he hurt his back at football and a week or two later went into the hospital. Dr. Johnson gave him an injection, and when the doctor moved away he saw that the needle had broken in half. Later he asked the doctor if the needle had been taken out and the doctor said, "Yes, you need not worry about it now."

Cannis said lie went back to work, but in May, 193.3, had to go into Sydney Hospital, where he was told he had tuberculosis of the s[iine. He had been in bed ever since, lying on his back, with his mother as iiis muse. Cannis' counsel explained that it was not suggested that the broken needle had anything to do with Cannis , tuberculosis. Cannis was merely claiming for the pain and suffering which he said had been caused by Dr. Johnson's alleged negligence in the injection. Dr. Johnson said that when the needle broke off he realised it was a case for a more experienced surgeon than himself and obtained advice. He was advised that it was best to leave the needle in the patient's'back. When he told Cannis' mother, ehe asked him not to tell her son, who believed that the needle had been recovered. The jury returned a verdict for the doctor.