HOSPITAL ENQUIRY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1950, 5 December 1906, Page 2

HOSPITAL ENQUIRY.

(To the Editor Gisborne Times,) Sir,—l have no hesitation in Boying that the public is undtr a deep debt of gratitude to you lot your very able and impartial oritioism ('d the above guhjsct) in to day a issue of tho Timks Dr. MorrißOD, in endeavoring to clour bimsolf of the alleged want of aitont’.on to the deceased Amelia O son (while in the hospital), caste serious reflections on othor doctors which I fool Buro tho majority cf ihe people of this eistrict will resent, because of the fact that am ingot tho mtdioal profession here we have tome highly eminent hied. How any body cf men oould calmly sit and listen to domineering interruptions from matron while a nurse was giving her evidence is beyond my comprehension. All honor to the two trustees who politely drew attention to tbo fact that such was not right. I quite egree with you, it is high time tho whole management of the hospital was eiited to the very bottom. Thanking yon in anticipation.—l am, oto.j OBSERVED. Giaborne, Deoember 4th, 1904.

He The Hospital Enquiry.

(To Use Editor of the Times.)

Sir,—Ec the; Hospital inquiry, not wishing to cast any slur on any of the other doctors, which was seemingly done in what Dr Morrison said of my boy during the enquiry, I will give you the account of my boy’s sad affair. About eleven months back he hit his shin bone with the handle of a mattock and knocked the enamel off the bone. He did not mention it at once, but let it go for a day. When it got painful I got Dr Schumacher to examine it, Three days after that the doctor cut up the shin and scraped the bone, and said he mi"ht have to scrape it again.later on, and the wound was left open. Justafter th'atDr Schumacher took ill and could not _ look after the boy, so he sent Dr Williams, who ordered the boy to the Hospital- .On arriving there it needed more scraping, and Dr Morrisonnotbeingpresentoravailable, Drs Cole and Williams performed the operation. Dr Cole said it might want seeing 10 oooe more, but had made a thorough olean-out at that time, '. and it would want careful attention. Nothing more was said or done about soreping or amputation till nioe weeks after, when we saw hia oaue was critical and oallcd D: Schumacher's attention to it, with the result that amputation was necessary, as inflimmaiion of the leg had set in, Owing to the ioattention he reoeiyed doriDg that timo and the boy’s critical state, we took him to a private hospital, where the leg was taken off. He recovered from that, and his leg—as much at was left —healed op satisfactorily, but his system was fall of poison from the amputation being left for so loDg a time and with all the battling. We loai him in the and, as you would see by the paper. It any more information is necessary, I have had all the doctors in the place to get it from. There is one inoideni that happened while in the public hoßpttal at the latter end of the nine weeks I wish to draw attention, to show you how little they knew of the boy’s serious condition. A short time over a week before the amputation, my boy told his sister to bring over his clothes, as nurse said he would be able to get about > on the Sunday on his crutches, and strange to say, that same Sunday-he was kept to his bed, they having -become alarmed at his low state, and he never had his clothes on, nor got up from bed again in that hospital. He often complained of the doctor, never looking at his limb only occasionally, sometimes not for nearly three weeks, hut leaving it all to the nurses, with the result of what you can judge for yourself. His temperature, was very often 104 and 105, with a little variation. Trusting for the sake of others this will have its due amount of consideration—Yours, respectfully, JOHN EA.ST.

(To the Editor .Gisborne Times.) Sir’-The Gisborne Hospital is a most excellent institution-so excellent in fact that it is astonishing that you should have had the temerity to criticise in your leader this morning any of its customs or the way of its officers One shudders to think of your astounding presumption in reflecting in any way upon the “ show ” institution of the town, reserved for exhibition to eminent visitors to Gisborne. It would also seem, Sir, as if the persistent rumors which are current as to the management of the hospital and which found a more or less definite expression in the enquiry yesterday, had induced you to throw down the gauntlet and voice the opinion of humble citizens like myself in this matter. It has been the custom, honored by time, to talk only in whispers about anything which could reflect upon the hospital or itn management for the fear of offending the coterie who have regulated its affairs, perhaps because they are possessed of innuonce in the town, but we are to be congratulated upon the fact that we have a paper which is not afraid, to offend the most influential in the public interest and prefers to “cause fric* tion ” to allowing lives to continue in danger, It should be remembered that in tee majority of oases tne patients ate of the poorer and more defenceless classes, tboso who have neither influenoß nor • superabundance of money defend themselves, and.oiiglhosiy groantwl--alone, if no other, the fdlleat »hd [ mfiafc»r^ n . , to the affairs whioh beloDg to the public, and not to a seloot few. The inquiry must neoes* sarily leave a nasty tasie behind it, the more nasty because is seems to indioale that there is muoh more whioh should ba exposed, but whioh is no) exposed because it would be so extremely unpleasant for those who are anxious to keep this "show” institution a olose preserve and the glory of the town. The extraordinary manner in which the inquiry was oonduoted seems in itself an indication of the extraordinary manner in whioh the hospital is managed, when the matron is allowed to make i'a* marks whioh oould only bo interpreted as an intimidation of one of the nurses wb(j was abouMo give most valuable evidenep. That this impertinenoe was permitted and acoording to your report not resented by the Trustees, would almost lead to the conclusion tbst the lady in question is in the habit of havffig her own way with them as much as she is by the ovidance in the habit of having her own way with the surgeon. The surgeon’s opinion that a oonsuhation would be a slur upon him, is certainly not the opinion which is held by the most eminent surgeons in the Empire, as wo frequently find oases/ such as the iimg’s illness, in whioh they voluntarily call m consultants. Are we to infer from those remarks that in Dr Morrison’s opinion a human being’s lifo is not more valuable than any dcotor’s roputation, and that a surgeon should not be aDxious to peoeiye all the help and advice possible it is a hope of saving it ? The more one looks into this ovidence, the more unsatisfactory it appears, and it oertainlv sotrns, m spite of the opinion of the expects, that affairs will cover bo lully satisfactory as the hospital until a resident surgeon is appointed with every medioal man in the town upon the honorary staff, Many aro deterred from oatericg the hospital owing' to ihefaot'that they cannot have their own medical man who knows every phase of their oonstitu* tion and in whom they may have more faith than in any other dootor. They are therefore debarred from having the use of the beat instruments and applianoes whioh csuld be found there, but probably not in any private institution, although indirectly they pay for them, I know that this is the opinion of a minority, but I oocsole myself with ibo knowledge that minorities aro frequently light.—l am, eim.,7 • W. LIBSANT OLAYTON Gisborne, Dio. 4. ISOfl,