The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1886. Sent to their Deaths

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 55, 19 October 1886, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1886. Sent to their Deaths

_ — «. — _ If any man were to proclaim in the streets of Palmerston or Feilding that the residents were a callous and brutal ! lot of people the probabilities are that he would be either laughed at for a fool, or kicked as a slanderer. But whether laughed at or kicked, there would be a considerable amount of truth in his statement. A little thought will 'show our readers why, and to further assist them, we quote an article in the Wanganui Herald of the 16th inst., headed "Another man sent into "Wanganui to die." : — The accusation conveyed in these words seems strong, but is not one whit more severe than circumstances warrant. A man named Johnson^ was on Thursday night sent in from Feilding to the Wanganui Hospital, suffering from a fractured skull and a broken arm, and at 7 o'clock next morning he was dead. There is surely something wrong in such a case as this ! The doctor who forwarded him on must have made himself aware of the circumstances of the case, and have seen whether the patient was fit to stand the journey, which, of course, had to be performed on the floor of a van. When in the name of common humanity will the Hospital Board or the railway authorities devise some means of bringing in patients in a more merciful fashion than that now adopted? We have on record an instance of one man dying in the traiu, another of a man dying after, he had been allowed to walk from the station to the Hospital, and now a third in about nine hours after he was received into the Hospital. These cases may probably not all hare been directly due to the want of proper train accommodation, but between that fault and the want of proper medical examination before despatching the cases there is undoubtedly much to account for. The doctors here, and the, public at large have every right to object in the strongest terms possible io men. being sent into town simply to die. The reckless eagerness of the country towns to ship off to the Wanganui Hospital every case of accident is being pushed beyond the bounds of common humanity. The brutality of placing a poor wretch with a fractured skull on the floor of a jarring, joltiug, draughty guard's van, to lie there and be shaken for over three hours, is a piece of refined cruelty too revolting to stand a moment's consideration. Whoever ordered Johnson' 8 removal to Wanganui with injuries such as bis, ought to be severely dealt with." Our contemporary is wrong in saying the patient was carried on floor of the guard's van. The fact was he was placed in a stretcher which was slung on two tresles, so that be ie, wo believe, the first who ever had any attention paid to his comfort by the railway authorities. It is very easy to blame the I doctor for sending him to the WanI ganui Hospital, but he did nothing of I the kind. After setting the broken ! arm and attending 1 to the other injuries ; he directed li m to be taken to some place , where he could be attended to properly- There his responsibility emlel. As the man was without money to pay for his board in a hotel or lodging house, the only course left to his mates i was to get him sent to the Wanganui Hospital. That the journey in the traiu augmented the poor fellows agonies, and hastened his death may I be possible, and we agree with'our contemporary anent the want of mercy in the present mode of transit. It has been suggested and urged by our Palmerstou contemporaries that a Hospital should be erected at Palm-ei-stim as the most cent^il point of the . Manawatu and Oroua Districts. Cases like the one we are now dealing with ought to silence all doubts on the question. But in the mean time we would suggest the following m^uns of providing for emergencies — (1.) Let a medical man in each town be subsidised by the Hospital and Charitable I Aid Board, to attend to all accidents } or cases, and give him authority and I power to certify whether a patient is ' fit to be removed or otherwise. (2.) | Let the Local Bodies who contribute ' to the f uuds of the Board, have power

to place a patient in a hotel or boarding house and to certify to the cost, such cost to be paid by the Hospital Board. Should th«se suggestions be i adopted in. the form we make them, j or if they wer« modified a little to ■; allow of the regulation red-tape tram- j mels being applied, we believe many ( valuable lives would be saved to the community. Failing affirmative action ; on the part of the Hospital Board, the : only plan left will he for the Local Bodies themselves to take the subject vigorously in hand. Let delegates be appointed lrom the Kiwitea, Manchester, Manawatu, {-andon-Carnarvon. Road Boards, the Palmerston and Feilding Borough Councils, and Foxton and Halcombe Town Boards, to hold a conference on the question of ! erecting a Cottage Hospital in Palmerston or other convenient centre, where a patient could be treated until such time as he was in a condition to be removed without, risk to the Hospital in. Wanganui, then will the blots of " trutaJity" and inhumanity be removed from the character of the people. ' , ■