ST. HELEN'S HOME INQUIRY

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1655, 23 January 1913, Page 3

ST. HELEN'S HOME INQUIRY

.-,'■■•"'. I.' ■■'.■■-■.■ ;;'.' A DOCTOR^-EVIDENCE.-: ■ (By Telegraph.—Pre63 Association.)- ' v.. /,- Auckland,* January 22 The inquirj into the administration of St. Helen's..Maternity Home was- continued this ■'morning .before) Air. C. ,C. Itettie, S.M., Commissioner.'. /., . ,' ( Further, evidence, was called in support of the complaint made bytho Auckland, Timber Worker'sVUnion in respect of the treatment of the late Mrs. Laura Elizabeth Chamberlain. Robert Briffault' said 'ho did not consider, that'a. duly qualified midwife: should!be.allowed to insert sutures unless under the .authority '■ of; a .medical man, andii. his. presence. <l\his was, of ccurse, - excepting--in rare, cases, where the, services of a medical'man were entirely unobtainable, ;as in' tne back-blocks. In the'city:'it would,.'be. quite; inexcusable for aiinidwife':tb';-insertjsutures,".' • To; the Commissioner': ■No midwife was actually trained-to "perform surgicaroperatiohs. ' 'It was outside her. sphere altogether." .She was/not trained in the' method."of cleaning up 'a: wound and drawing, the,tissues-together/, r . Mr.' Skelton:'And avoiding the danger of siich things as septicaemia. - ',". .' \Witness:. Yes,:,-There ; is always the. danger of. that.' , ' : ' ''•'-' '/ . ■ '■■ Mr. Skelton- here quoted, general rules ifor /administration of State matermty hospitals, as,providing that in abnormal, cases an approved medical practitioner must be called in, and the Government regulations for the guidance of niidwives as defining a'case of rupture as an abnormal case. He therefore submitted that the matron's faction in inserting sutures'was, to, say the'least'of it,- a distinct breach of the rules' of the home. Continuing his evidence, Dr. Briffault, said .that the insertion of sutures by the matron was a common practice in maternity homes, and though he emphatically condemned it, he agreed that the matron had plenty of precedent in treating Mrs. Chamberlain in'the manner described.- r Dr. Briffault, continuing, said that if tho death Tate at St. Helen's was'less -than one-half per cent, tho figure was a very creditablo one, the more bo as tho cases treated in maternity hospitals were often complicated ones. . • • V To the Commissioner:, The site of the St. Helen's Homo was not a suitable one for tho purpose, and the building, in'his opinion, was not suitable. At this point Mr. Skelton intimated that, subject to some small reservations, ho would close his case. A written statement made by Mrs. Martha Porch,, who was unnblo to attend owing, to illness, was put 'n by Mrs. Nicol,' anil- was accepted by_ Mr. Mays, subject to.any comment ho might make. Tho inquiry was adjourned at 3 o'clock until to-morrow morning, because of indisposition on the part of Mrs. Jlicol.