A Curious Case.

Manawatu Herald, 26 July 1894, Page 2

A Curious Case.

A case which with the advance of surgical skill may create a remarkable precedent,. has just been decided by the Tribunal of the Seine. A gardener had consented to undergo the transfusion of blood in favour of his employer, whose life appears to have been saved by this imported blood. The gardener, however, fell ill later, and sank rapidly into a decline, whereupon he attributed his condition to the loss of his blood and sued M. Lefe'rre, his master, for its value, which he estimated at 60,000fr. The tribunal ordered a medical expert's report and in the meantime the man died, and the widow took up the suit. The experts have now declared the gardener to have died of cancer, which could have had no relation to the transfusion of blood, but they admit that the weak state produced by the loss of blood may have influenced the progress of the disease. The Tribunal has therefore non-suited the widow on the ground that the operation was voluntary on the part of the victim, and that the disease which caused his death could not possible have been caused by the said operation. The case must be regarded as unfortunate from every point of view.