DEATH UNDER ANAESTHETIC.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20169, 23 February 1931, Page 6

DEATH UNDER ANAESTHETIC.

INQUEST CONCLUDED., PATIENT'S CONDITION. j The adjourned inquest into tho death df Mary Ellen • Bray, of 13A Dublin street, Lyttelton, aged 70,. who died under an 1 antesthetic .at the • Christ" ehurcli Hospital on January '3lst, was resumed before the Coroner, Mr- H. A. Young, on Saturday. Dr. A. B. Pearson, pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, said that he had made a post-mortem examination and that the cause of death had been. rea»' piratory failure following spinal anaesthesia, and to toxcomia due t.o cancer and heart disease. The 'lsancer' had been found so excessive - that'the woman: was past hope of relief. Its full extent could not have " been, determined except by operation or by a post-mortem. Through the condition of the heart a general anaesthetic, had not been advisable. The general examination had shown that the patient was in a hopeless condition/ and, could not : have lived more than a few months at the outsido, and that those months would have been months of .suffering. At the request'of the surgeons he had previously made an examination of materials supplied by them, and had .given a report. From the case notes he was convinced that u satisfactory investigation bad been made before examination under spinal antesthesia, the object of this, being to xelax the muscles so that an external examination could be made; The general condition of the- patient had made the risk greater, but it was advisable to take the risk if therp was & possibility of giving relief. • •01ive Reginald ..Lambert, house surgeon, said that the patient had beqm admitted to the Hospital on January Bth, and that owing to her heart condition a general anaesthetic was considered i advisable. On January 31st a "Spinal anesthetic had been administered by Dr. Poster. Before this, blood and other materials had been submitted to the pathological department, and Bhe had been given a blood transfusion because of antpmia. It had been found on manipulation that the patient was in anxinoperable , equation, the cancer having spread considerably. She had complained v of feeling faint and had stopped breathing. Artificial respiration and other restoratives had been,of no avail. The Coroner returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence, stating that it was evident that every, pre-operation precaution bad been taken. A certain amount of risK had had to be taken in the interest of' the patient. The' full gravity of her condition could jiot have been ascertained except by the manipulatory examination for which the paasthetic was administered.