Blood Clot Fatal

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31117, 21 July 1966, Page 3

Blood Clot Fatal

(N.Z. Press Association! AUCKLAND, July 20. A man who died in Middlemore Hospital on June 1 had a very thin skull where he suffered a fatal head injury, a medical witness said in the Supreme Court today. Nui Pao, aged 32, a ropemaker’s labourer, is charged with the manslaughter of Richard Kenneth Atutahi on May 28. Accused, who has pleaded not guilty, is represented by M. C. W. Bright and Mr S. B. W. Grieve. Mr E. R. Winkle appears for the Crown. The hearing is before Mr [Justice T. A. Gresson and a jury. Viola Palalagi, married, of Parnell, sister of the accused, described the incident outside

her flat in which her brother struck the deceased, who fell to the footpath. Dr. F. J. Cairns said he made a post-mortem examination and found bleeding from a fracture of the skull had clotted and caused pressure on the brain. There was also superficial bruising indicating a severe blow to the left ’side of the head. Near the fracture was evidence of an operation to remove the clot The man had died from brain pressure. To Mr Grieve Dr. Cairns said early removal of the clot would have given the deceased a better chance of recovery. Dr. N. R. Broadbent said skull X-rays made in the Auckland Hospital had not shown the fracture and deceased was treated for concussion until he was transferred to the Middlemore Hospital later in the evening of; May 28.

Dr. Harry Lawrence McIntyre Smith, a surgical specialist at Middlemore Hospital, said that when Atutahi was admitted to hospital he was regarded as a severe case of concussion. X-rays made soon after he was admitted showed a small fracture beneath bruises on his skull. Atutahi was seen by the house surgeon and the surgical registrar at 1 a.m. They were not worried by his condition and it seemed he was improving. But at 6.30 a.m. one of his pupils was dilated. He was taken to the operating theatre where witness removed a medium-sized blood clot, which was overlying the brain. Atutahi did not regain consciousness. To Mr Grieve, witness said Atutahi had a very thin skull where he suffered the injury. A person with a thicker skull might have survived.