AMATEUR DOCTORING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 38, 13 February 1880, Page 4

AMATEUR DOCTORING.

[Evening PostA] If the men who is his own lawyer has a:fool for a client* what .shall be said of tbe roan who essays to be his own doctor ? In the one cas* 1 , the. worst that can happen to bind is the loss of his money and of his peace of mind j in tbe otber, loss of health and eyen Sometimes of life itself is the penalty whicli Be risks. Bearing on tbis subject, a grave warning is conveyed by the report of en inquest held at Ashburton a few days ago, which appears in the Canterbury papers; It appears tbat in the early part of the present year, Mrs Buchanan, tbe, wife, of an auctioneer at Ashburton, was seized with typhoids fever. She waß attended by a local medical man, Dr. Boes, who followed the usual allopathic plan of giving lhe patient large; quantities of fluid nourishment and 1 stimulants ; t and, according to Dri Kobb' evidence, tbe case Went on in the ordinary way without any serious complication. After he had been treating her for three weeks, he received a note that Mr A. Sannders, the father of the deceased lady, wished to treat the case fiydropathically. Itt justice to himself Dr Roes aeked Mr Sautfders' permission to see ttie patient, andhe, undDr Trevor, another medical man, visited heron the 19th January. She was then according, to their evidence in the ordinary statej of typhoid patients at that stage. Mr, Saunders,, who is not quaHSed _*o; practise medicine, then undertook 'JtntPj charge of the case, cthe jdeceased, itj should Abe mentioned, being very| anxious that he should do so. -— Hej gave her warm baths, &c., and com-) pletely reversed theJstimuTating treat- ] ment. adopted by JDr tßpaßj '--In. his j evidence before the, coroner^ Mr:;Saun- ; ders said ;--" Deceased in the most contemptuous terms of allopathic; treatment '"and- its' failure;, to relieve ber in the i flighteWdegree, except by the stupefaction produced by morphia, which she knew, wpnld, leave her nerves in a frightful 1 condition, and Begged me „to bqlp % her. ...by wbati she had so often seen so beneficial to; her own children and to othere. I told ber bow difficult this would be after the drugs she bad been taking, and. with a hostile doctor and nurses, but I would save ber from allopathic annoyances as much as I could, and get ber ; mother to come and nurse her. I told : her not to be annoyed by having ; food thrußt on her, to avoid any! drug or stimulant, or meat in any shape pr form. I g*ve ber food every three hours. Such food to consist of oatmeal, food, Arabica Kevalenta, rice a^d .milk, broad beans, potatoes, roast apple> »nd peaches, and a little brown bread V>a Bfc . Bnd on D 0 account to take white bie»> dor anything of an astringent character"' which I know to be the most; frequeu * cause of the dysentery so ranch to be fb.area in this fever." Mr Saunders claime. d 'that his treatment Bfforded immediate and and material relief to the patieO l, However^ on the Ist February she way' evidently very much worse, acd Dr ; Ross being Bgain sent, for, found bar in ! a dying stsie. In fact she succumbed the same evening to various chest complications, brought on by the fever. After a long deliberation, the jury, returned a verdict of " Death from natural causes," adding a rider to the the effect tbat they strongly disapproved any otlier than legally qualified medical men undertaking the conduct of such serious cases. In this, opinion we cordially agree. We fully believe that very great benefit is often derived from hydropathic treatment, but except in the case of trifling ailments, such treat ment Bhould be administered only by a qualified .medical man.