TO BE INVESTIGATED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 66, 23 December 1946, Page 5

TO BE INVESTIGATED

MATATA CHILD'S DEATH

HOSPITAL BOARD’S ACTION

Following receipt of a written complaint from Mr R. Rondon, of Matata, which was duplicated by a further letter forwarded on from Mr W. Sullivan, M.P., who had received a similar communication from the same writer, the Whakatane Hospital Board at its meeting recently decided to appoint Messrs. C. A. Suckling and L. Buddie (Complaints Committee members) to a further term in order to have the death of a child patient thoroughly investigated, and to hold a special meeting before Christmas in order to give the matter consideration.

The writer declared in his letter * that on November 29th his grandson was taken seriously ill with mumps. He had rung up a doctor in Whaka- ■ tane emphasising the seriousness of the case, and had been told to give the child asperin and lemonade and a »he would be better in a few days. The child’s condition became steadily worse and the writer had rung up the doctors in Whakatane but :xone were available. He had then rung the hospital but had been told that the patient could not be admitted without a local doctor’s auth-ority.-He had tried again but without success. In desperation he had -.rung the District Nurse, who was

.ill but who nevertheless made an /'-effort to 'visit the child, declaring him very ill and insisting that he /should be in hospital. As a result ■of her representations the Hospital agreed to take the child, and he (Mr Rondon) had driven him in at 11 ;p.m. that night. The place was in darkness and the Sister did not •seem to know he was expected. The •child had been put in a single room • 'by itself. He was advised the following morning that the child had •died. The writer asked that in the interests of others who may be placed in a similar position the matter be fully investigated. In his letter to Mr Sullivan the writer described the incident as showing a terrible state of affairs adding that he had begged to be allowed to bring the child in but had been consistently refused. There were four practising doctors in the town and two at the hospital. Had the child received attention he was convinced he would be alive today. Mr Buddie stated that the investigation had been commenced but was as yet incomplete. He sought an extension of his term as a member of the Complaints Committee in crder to finalise it. Mr McCready agreed. He only hoped that there would be no chance ■of a reoccurrence in the meantime before the Board laid down a hard and fast policy. Mr Burt said that the affair had caused a great deal of feeling at Matata. 1 The Chairman (Mr J. Mullins) 'intimated that he was not prepared to allow free discussion on the subject until a full report was before the meeting. Mr McCready in moving that the /matter be treated as urgent declared that in his opinion much of the trouble was due to those who answered the phone, who took a good 'deal more responsibility than they . ihad a right to do.

MATTER INVESTIGATED COMPLAINTS COMMITEE’S REPORT In connection with the above the Complaints Committee of the Hospital Board submitted - the following detailed report to a special meeting of the Board held last Saturday morning:— We, the undersigned, the Committee appointed to enquire into this complaint, respectfully report that we have made a full enquiry in connection with the matter. We have interviewed Dr. Dawson, Miss Runciman, the District Nurse, Miss Dawson, Dr. Cole and Mr Rondon and his daughter, the last mentioned of whom did the ringing referred to in Mr Rondon’s letter. The following is a summary of the facts obtained as a result of our interviews:— (1) The child, Eugene Rondon, referred to in the letter, was seen by The District Nurse, Miss Dawson, on Friday, the 29th November. She -did not consider he was a hospital case . and instructed the parents as to treatment. Miss Rondon also rang Dr. Akel and, after informing him that the child had mumps, received 'his advice as to what to do. (2) Mr and Miss Rondon state that on Saturday afternoon, the 30th November, efforts were made to get an touch with Doctors Maaka and .Akel about 3.0 o’clock (one ring to

each), without success. Miss Rondon spoke to Dr. Cole about 5.15 p.m. Dr. Cole then had other visits to make and, as it was mentioned that Dr. Akel had attended the child, Dr. Cole suggested that a further effort should be made to get in touch with Dr. Akel. Dr. Cole did not know that Dr. Akel was away from Whakatane. Dr. Cole, stated he was at home all Saturday afternoon and had no telephone call until shortly before Miss Rondon spoke to him. He was then listed for two other visits. He states that he did not refuse to go to Matata and that he could have gone after doing his other two jobs but he was not rung again about the case. No effort was made to get Dr. Appleby. (3) Miss Dawson was at home all day Saturday. She said she was not ill. She had a slight cold but she was “on duty” all day. She was not communicated with about the child’s condition until about 8.30 in the evening. She immediately went to Matata and saw that the child was ill and she suspected pneumonia. She immediately rang the hospital from Matata Post Office and met with ready acquiescence for the child’s admission. She suggested bringing the child over but, as it would have been necessary to have someone to look after the child in the car, the Rondons decided that they would come in and bring the child in a taxi. Miss Dawson arrived home at about 10 p.m.

(4) Miss Rondon r.ang the hospital on the Saturday at about 6.15 p.m. She spoke to the Matron and intimated that the child had mumps and was very sick and that they had not been able to get a doctor and she asked for permission to bring the child into hospital. The Matron communicated by telephone with Dr. Dawson and, at his suggestion, the Rondons were requested to make a further effort to get in touch with a doctor for a certificate of admission. They were told that cases of mumps were not being admitted unless there was evidence available of complications requiring hospital treatment. The hospital staff was not communicated with again about the case until Miss Dawson rang from Matata about 9.15 p.m. and certified the case as one for admission.

(5) The Rondons arived at the hospital at about 11 p.m., and the child was then immediately received as a patient. There were no lights at the front entrance. The first person interviewed was the night nurse in the women’s ward, who knew nothing of the case. She imediately got into touch with the night nurse in the men’s ward who came and met Miss Rondon and the child. A bed was ready for the child (in a private room for isolation purposes). The child was immediately put to bed and Dr. Dawson was communicated with and, soon after, came and saw the child and prescribed treatment.

Following careful consideration by the Board the following motion was carried:—

That it be placed on record, that as a result of investigation into this complaint, the Board has found that there is no evidence of any dereliction of duty on the part of any member of the Hospital staff. A further motion was also car-' ried at the same meeting: “That a copy of the report of the investigatory committee be forwarded to Mr Rondon and that he be advised that the Board at the first favourable moment will give full consideration as to its policy with regard to the admission of cases to Hospital, also that the co-operation of Medical Officers not on the Hospital staff is being sought.”