SEARCHING INQUIRY DEMANDED

Evening Star, Issue 19783, 6 February 1928, Page 2

SEARCHING INQUIRY DEMANDED

DEATH Of BOY UNDER AHfIES- - THETIB , [Special to the ‘Stab.’] CHRISTCHURCH, February 4. • In an editorial to-night’s Star ’ says:—The coroner’s verdict in the case of the boy who died in Christchurch Hospital from asphyxia must give rise to a very searching inquiry by the Hospital Board. The coroner has expressed the opinion that the boy’s stomach should have been emptied before the anaesthetic was administered, and that greater attention should have been given to his case immediately after the operation. The circumstances _ surrounding the case must be disquieting to the general public, and if confidence in the conduct of the hospital is to be maintained the board must sift the matter to the bottom. It is only a matter of six months since a special committee set up by the Hospital Board in connection with the death of Mrs M'Knight endorsed the opinion of-the coroner that there was “a lack of something” that should not have been wanting m the treatment of the particular patient. It is significant, too. that when the report of the medical superintendent on Mrs M'Knight’s case was tabled, it was discussed in camera because, as the mayor remarked in moving that it should be withheld from publication, “it contained some alarming statements,” The public are entitled to know whether these alarming statements ” had any bearing on the efficiency of the medical and nursing staffs, and if so whether they are jn-any way relevant to the .unfortunate case now under consideration.