THE LAST CORONER'S INQUEST.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 223, 20 September 1871, Page 4

THE LAST CORONER'S INQUEST.

-TO THE EDITOE OF THE NIXSON EVENING MAIL. Sir, — The evidence of every one who has been connected with the accident causing the death of any individual is supposed to be required by the law; it therefore caused me no little surprise to find in the report of the inquest held by our Coroner on the body of a child that was drowned in the late boat accident, that the evidence of Mr. Watson was dispensed with, inasmuch as in that gentleman's account to me he averred that Mrs. Leaver clung to him round the waist as he swam to the boat with one hand, having the child on his other arm, -that the child was then alive, and he tried to prevent the spray from washing over its face, that in struggling to lay hold of the boat the child slipped from his arm, and was immediately caught by Mrs. Leaver, whom he had succeeded in getting to lay hold of the keel of the boat, and, that then himself and Mr. Hamilton kept the 'boat from rolling over till the timely help of Mr. Kidson relieved and rescued them. There were many of the bystanders who told me that the child was living when brought to the hotel, where I found it, arid on my arrival when about to inspect the other sufferers I was requested to transfer my services at once to the child to give it a chance of living. On going to the child I found it in a warm bath before the fire, and Mrs. Cousins, a neighbor, supporting it and putting, the warm water with one hand over the chest ;frooi the expression of the child's face I believed it to be dead, at the same time considered it my duty to use Sylvester's plan for restoring respiration, which has been successful where life has been apparently extinct for hours; while doing so Dr. Farelle came and assisted me, we continued it for a minute or two longer, when ■Dr. Farrelle, blowing down the throat to assist the operation, found that the passages were full of water, we desisted that we might give assistance to the others; Dr. Farrelle going to : Mr. Leaver, whom he found all but gone, and myself to Mrs leaver; some one had told her that the doctors said that the baby was dead, but she refused to believe it, till after asking me three or four times '• Is it true, doctor, thut poor Annie 's dead," and being answered last time in the affirmative by myself, she appeared at last to credit it. I beg Mr. Hamilton to believe that I am not wishing to impugn his evidence when he said that Mrs. Leaver on clutching the child, exclaimed, "Oh ! my poor baby's dead," it is possible she did say so, it is also equally probable, that with the noise of the surf, the noise of the pigs floating about them in the agonies of drowning, and the exertion of keeping the boat from rolling over he may have misunderstood Mrs. Leaver's cry, as she told me ehe was screaming for help all the t'me she was clinging to the boat. It is possible that Mr. Watson's share with regard to the child was unknown to the Coroner, if so, it is only another instance that by systematically excluding the evidence of medical men when called to accidents that are fatal, he deprive* himself of the advantage of knowing what their enquiries made on the spot and immediitely after their occurrence, elicit; and as has happened in this case, the proper judical chain of evidence has not been taken, which, though it would not have altered the verdict of the jury, was still necessary t have been obtained, if it was necessary to hold ano inquest. By not following the rule observed by all the coroners of England of always calling upon a medical man, if he has been summoned to an accident or to inspect a dead body, to give evidence on the inquest, our Coroner deprives the public of a guarantee that every thing has been done that the nature of the case will allow, either in the one case, for restoring animation or saving life, or, in the other, for detecting foul play. The result of the inque«t on Leaver's child is to leave the impression on the mind of anyone reading the report that, because a woman, herself in imminent danger of drowning, is heard to have said, "Oh 1 my poor baby's dead," on getting to shore no further notice is taken of the poor little innocent, and nothing that humanity usually suggests on such occasions had been done. While, after I had attended Mrs. Leaver, I was assisting Dr. Farrelle in his attendance on Mr. Leaver, Dr. Haynes, Assistant Surgeon of H. M. S. Basilisk, came in, saying that some one had come off to bis ship and stated that a boat had capsized, and. several people were nearly drowned, and that none of the town doctors would come down to render any assistance, and therefore he had come on shore to offer his services to the sufferers. It is just possible that if the Coroner of Nelson persists, either from personal pique, or professional jealousy, in not following the rule observed in all other Coroners' Courts of calling for the evidence of medical men who have been summoned to accidents terminating fatally, that what was merely a canard on this occasion may prove true and they will refuse to render services, at all times extremely inconvenient to a man in full practice from their suddenness, and the length of time it keeps him from his patients, and foi which in most cases his only reward is the public acknowledgement given in taking his evidence by a public officer, like the Coroner— for the fee given for evidence by no means compensates the medical man for his loss of time and the taking him away from his professional engagements— and it may so happen at a time when there is no ship with a humane surgeon on board to supply his place. Our Nelson Coroner should recollect that he is placed in a judicial position, that he has no right to allow any conviction of his own mind, as in this instance, that the child was dead before it wag brought on Bhore, to prevent him taking all and every evidence, medical or otherwise, which bears upon the question, and so let the jury have a full knowledge on every point: It is a matter of. surprise to me, that some one of the jury di.l not enquire if a medical man had been called to ascertain if the child was dead, or if there was a spark of life in it, use the proper means for resuscitation, and require his evidence. Because the Coroner is a medical man the jury have no right to be satisfied with his ipse dixit on medical matters, but should require that the same medical evidence be afforded them, as would be done were the Coroner a lawyer, or of any other profession. I am, &c.j •■"■/: FBA.S.. L. VICKERMAN. • Colling wood -street, Sept. 18, 1871 - '