Why Matron Told She Needed Spanking

NZ Truth, Issue 1184, 9 August 1928, Page 1

Why Matron Told She Needed Spanking

Sick Nurses THE inquiry into Mrs. McCombs' "■ allegations against Matron Muir has achieved something, not* withstanding the amount of dirty linen, that. was put through the mangle. The board, on Mrs. McCombs' motion, has decided to oonsider .the appointment of a medical officer whose duty it will be to attend to tHe nurses who report sick. This is a move m the right directloni but m "Truth's" opinion It is more feasible to overhaul the whole of the working conditions of the nursing staff and increase it so that sickness may be reduced to 'an absolute minimum by the elimination of overwork and overstrain. This is the kernel of the whole question and should be looked into without delay. If she achieves no more than the appointment of the medical officer, Mrs. McCombs has done f something, at least, to ensure improvements for the nurses. • ||||||||!lll!HII!lllll!llllllll]||!lllllllllllllllllll!!llillllllllllll]llllllllllll!lllllllllllllllll /""RAVE/ indeed, were the charges \J which Mrs. McCombs hurled at the head of the matron, but after a full public inquiry extending over many hours of debate, at times heated and acrimonious, the accuser failed to sustain her charges, which were rejected by the board as unfounded. Matron Muir was given a complete vindication — and behind her, m solid support, was the whole of the nursing staff, who viewed, m a signed declaration, the charges against the matron with emphatic protest and indignation. At times the atmosphere of the board-room was electric. There were many dramatic interludes as ( the charges were made and, evidence called m support, of. them.> i ;. Mrs. McGpmbs, was fulfilling a role which 'her sense of duty as a member of the board dictated. She, m her own fashion, was fighting to have what she held to '■' be a grievous wrong righted. What were the circumstances leading up to the death of Nurse Jones and how had her representations to the matron been received when she reported sick? < Matron Vindicated These were the questions Mrs. McCombs wanted answering — arid the qhampion of the dead nurse spared no pains m Her efforts to arrive at the truth. But what of the other woman ? For Matron Muir it was an ordeal which would have tried the nerve and courage of any woman. Her whole professional reputation was virtually at stake, for had the charges been sustained and an adverse finding recorded, it might well have meant the end of long years of faithful and devoted service. At times Matron Muir seemed to feel acutely the' strain; for long intervals she sat, her face covered with her cupped hands, m an attitude of deep meditation. Arising from the charges made and the mass of .evidence that accumulated around them, one fact stands out conspicuously—and that is the justice of the board's finding m completely vindicating the matron. After hearing the full facts of the base for both .sides, "N.Z. Truth" agrees that the finding was the only right and proper one, and, moreover, is satisfied that it was reached without any attempt to whitewash the matron or anybody else. The charges brought against the matron by Mrs. McCombs, when boiled down, were: (1) That about May 20, Nurse Jones, suffering from a swollen ankle and a bad cough, reported sick and asked for a tonic and sick leave, the latter being refused; v - (2) That on May 22, Nurse Jones i. ■' Charges Answered fainted when preparing to go on duty; that she was told by the sub-matron to sit m the sun and report to the ma-tron next day. She did so, was again told to sit m the sun, but no examination was made. Later m the day she asked to be allowed to go home, where her mother found the ankle swollen and painful; (8) That, following'ten days at home, Nurse Jones being too unwell to return to duty, the matron was informed that she was suffering from swollen ankles, pain m the back and vomiting, and was asked to arrange for her to be medically examined. This was carried out and the nurse's parents were informed that there' was nothing wrong. It was alleged that the examination was perfunctory. The nurse was advised to go into the country for a rest. She did so, but suffered from night sweats, pains' and general debility: She became worse and was advised by the hospital authorities to come m at once. The parents expected a further examination; . . > , • i (4) That on arriving. at theho3pltal oh June 27 to report, m company with her mother and her aunt, the nurse was seen by the matron alone and was advised to resign. . The matron then dictated the resignation, but when she saw the terms of the resignation the aunt advised Nurse Jones not to sign it and the resignation was not sent In; (6) That the matron, when talk-

JOCULAR REMARK TO DYING GIRL Charges of Unsympathetic Conduct Put Rose Muir " On Trial" At Hospital Inquiry BOARD MEMBER'S ALIMcMIONS NOT SUSTAINED ■fmiimimiiiuiwiMMniimttUMuniiniiiiuiiiiiiuiMiimiiuiHiNM |prmEmmS mmimitiiiiiimimimiiiimiiii nuuim mumimiMiimimiiiiiruiriiiiinmuiiiimiiiiiimimiiiiuiimiiimHiiiiiiimmiiniuii nuiHiiumiiitniiiimiimimiiiiiii niMiuiiranimnimniimnumiiiuiuimuuiniiiumHHa^ 1| ■. (Prom "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative.) . |§ A STATELY FIGURE, the scarlet cape which decorated her shoulders throwing up m bold \ \l her face, she sat at the board table almost opposite her accuser, who, m cold, relentless tones, hurled grave allegations at the silent | jj! figure, on whom all eyes m the room were centred. \ fl Woman to Woman, they faced each other. Dispassionately, but determinedly, Elizabeth McCombs, before the whole personnel j II of the North Canterbury Hospital Board, charged the matron of the Christchurch Hospital with having snubbed and neglected with | 1 1 unsympathetic indifference Nurse Helen Jones, since dead, who, she dlleged, was compelled to go on duty when literally dying on \ || her feet , ! £l : :./.^...... n . < «m n ,,,,,,,,miu<muiiuuimmiummimnnimmmmiMimmM iiiiimi miiiim.nm.nHii,!,.,,.,,,,.,,,.,,,.,,,,,.,,,.,,.,.,. „.

ing to the aunt m the presence of the nurse and her mother, told the aunt that if Nurse Jones were her daughter she would give her a good slapping, a remark which greatly upset the nurse; (6) That a few days later the nurse was seen by Dr. Brown, who said she was m a serious condition and ordered her into hospital. She did not want to enter the 'institution m view of the treatment she had received there, but finally she was admitted. Less than a week later Nurse Jones had fallen into a -state of coma and died on July 19. The cause of her death was gallop - Ing consumption and the very nature of the disease, as it proved, was to have a most important bearing oh the inquiry. Matron Mulr's answer to the charges levelled against her was concise and to the point. The first intimation that Nurse Jones was ill, she said, was on May 21, when she approached the matron and said she had a bad cold and wanted a few days off. "I said I would give her a tonic, but that I could not arrange for days off then." ■ The next morning it was reported to the matron that the nurse had a pain In her ankles. Later the girl went home with her permission. When examined, there were no clinical signs of any trouble. Dr. Fox advised that she should go into the country for a few days, and, if no better then, to return for further examination. The nurse looked very seedy and flat; although there were no clinical signs m her chest, it was feared that tubercular trouble might be developing. The matron felt very worried and* rang up to inquire of her people how the nurse was progressing. "On June. 27," continued the matron, when giving her, evidence, "Nurse Jones came into the hospital with her mother and her aunt, looking very ill, and m conversation the girl said she could not bear the thought of returning to her ward work. "A Naughty Girl" "I told her there was no necessity to continue if she did not want to and was unhappy . . . and I then suggested that she should remain m the hospital as an in-patient. "She implored to be allowed to go home, as she said she felt better. I could see that the idea of remaining as a patient was distressing her and I had no alternative but to let her go home. "In the course of trying to make the child feel a little better, I said she was a naughty girl and needed a spanking. "It is a remark I have often used and I am exceedingly sad to think that It hurt her." . The matron added that she was worried because Nurse Jones was not under supei'vision m the "hospital. On July 4 the girl's mother rang up to say that her daughter was, very ill and the matron told her to bring her m. She did so— and the. matron was shocked at her appearance. An X-ray examination showed the gravity of the trouble that had developed and the parents were Informed. The nurse gradually grew worse and died on July 19. Such was the matron's story, told m calm, even tones. When Mrs. McCombs first pointed an accusative finger at Matron Muir, the board, at its last ordinary meeting had just passed a vote of condolence with Nurse Jones' relatives. Mrs. McCombs, immediately after the motion had been passed m silence, rose m her place and made the charges against the matron. On that occasion she also alleged that the "nurses were afraid to report sick" and that they "were treated unsympathetically by the matron when they did so." The board took a grave view of the charges, and, to the credit of the chairman, H. J. Ottey, he insisted that a full public inquiry should be held, so that the position could be fully investigated. Mrs. McCombs was most ill-advised m bringing the charges against the matron as she did. It was quite obvious very early «n the inquiry that the allegations could not be sustained. Throughout the whole course of the proceedings the tactics of Mra. MoComba left much to be desired.

In the first place, she objected at the very outset .to the presence of Lawyer Hunter, who appeared m the interests of Matron Muir, contending that the meeting was a board meeting and that she objected to a lawyer conducting the case. She was told plainly by the chairman, however, that m view of the grave charges she had levelled against the matron, that • lady was entitled to any means open to her for her defence. - ' . Then again, Mrs. McCombs cannot be commended for the mariner m

public inquiry, which was as free and open as it was possible to be, this paper Jis satisfied that' m vindicating the>rnatron the board gave her no more i thah justice. Although the inquiry was not held to IriyeStigate general conditions at the hosj>ital, ; thls N aspect of- the administration,iwas really the crux of the whole problem. HoSy many hours daily the nurses are obliged to work, the general conditions^.uhder which they work and the effectv, of those conditions on their genial health, were questions which

iiiiiiMHiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiuiiiiiiiiiuiiniimiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiniinnmniiiuiiniiiiiiiiii'^ light on the incidence of sickness among the staff. When it is remembered that all nurses, on entering the profession, have to pass as medically fit, it does not take a wide stretch of the imagination to picture a state of affairs which needs looking into without delay. Then again, the mother of a nurse who died last November of T. 8., volunteered the information at the inquiry that three nurses had died of that complaint. She wanted to know how it. was possible for a nurse to fall away from 12 stone to 7 stone m weight, without the medical staff being aware?' of i the fact. . .These riiatters, while of great impor-. tance, did not affect the matfbn- — nor did they have any bearing upon the charges. that had been levelled against her. ' . ■ ' .' ' . They simply went to show that the board itself is responsible ' by its apparent apathy m the matter of staffing and working conditions for a great deal of the sickness that has prevailed among the .nurses. .: Not so many months pack the medical superintendent, Dr. W. Fox, warned the board that congestion m the wards could have^ but one result — and that was sickness among the staff. But little, if anything, has been done. The fact cannot be disputed that the hospital should be carrying a bigger staff than it has at present. The board cannot deny that the nurses are worked to the limit. Patients who have seen conditions for themselves know only too well that the nurses have to work like galley slaves, while the day off each week is a very elastic arrangement indeed. Is the board prepared to assert publicly that the nurses are not overworked and that they, get their 'day off regularly? Conditions being what they are at present, such an assertion, -Jf made, would be ridiculous: No wonder, then, that Lawyer Hunter was m a position to call sixty nurses who had been sick. Here, if proof were needed, is the indisputable fact of the board's apathy Monster Petition towards the staff and its policy of "just sufficient" nurses, which is being reflected m sickness among their ranks. "Truth" is of opinion that what la needed, now that the board has shown its anxiety to have all questions affecting the administration freely ventilated, is a public Inquiry into working conditions at the hospital. Let the board call evidence showing the hours of work, the regularity or the irregularity of the off day and the general working conditions, and the public will then have some clear indication as to whether or not the hoßpital is adequately staffed and whether or not the nurses are receiving a fair deal from the board. So far as Nurse Jones was concerned, her case had little to do with the average type of physical breakdown. It was shown conclusively m medical evidence that this unfortunate girl was suffering from the dread disease of galloping consumption. It was also proved beyond all doubt that the symptoms of this malady do not manifest themselves until It Is too late to 'save the life of the patient. This evidence nullified the charges that when Nurse Jones was first examined by Dr. Fox, he said he found nothing wrong. 1 The girl's relatives, . from what Dr. Fox himself had to say, misconstrued the diagnosis. "• The medical superintendent informed the board that what he did say was that he could find no clinical symptoms of the trouble when he examined the nurse's chest. Such an eminent authority as Dr. Blackmore, the medical officer In charge of Cashmere sanatorium, supported Dr. Fox and pointed out that the disease did not actively manifest itself until too late. -. No one suffering, from galloping consumption could recover, as it was an incurable f orni of T.B. Dr. Fox said that, while he found no clinical signs of disease when he examined the nurse, he was satisfied something was developing. When this evidence was given, It was dear that Mrs. McCombs' case, so far as the initial examination was concerned, must break down. Much was made of the matron' h re-

which she insulted — that is the only word— the whole of the nursing staff m describing the monster petition of protest, signed by ISO nurses at the hospital, as, being "not worth the paper it was written on." She did what she conceived to be her duty, but Mrs. McCombs emerged from the whole sorry business with little credit. "Truth" holds no brief for Matron Muir or the hospital board, but on the evidence tendered for both sides at the

were not thrashed out as they should have been. Some remarkable statements were made as to the health of nurses. Lawyer Hunter threatened to call 60 j nurses who had been sick to give evidence In support of the matron and her kindly treatment towards them when ill. ' This information alone was illuminating, inasmuch as- it threw considerable

Quick and Dead X PARTICULARLY mean type of ghoul, to whom the sanctity of grief and, a* woman's loving hands as she tends the grave of a loved one mean nothing— that is the description which fits Stanley Robert Webber, of Christchurch. Skulking m the Bromley cemetery one day recently he watched his victim, Ruby Shanahan, ap- , proach the grave of her brother. Tenderly und reverently the girl bent down as she tended the last resting-place of her loved one. As she worked away her hand-bag lay on the ground nearby. Webber stealthily approached the .bent figure of the girl and snatched the bag and made off with it. But a hue and cry was raised and the meanest of sneak thieves was apprehended. "This was a mean theft, a very mean theft, indeed," commented Magistrate Mosley sternly, when sentencing Webber to one month's imprisonment with hard labor. "The only thing to do with a man who can commit a theft like this is to gaol him." And gaol it was. Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll mark that the nurse needed a "good spanking" — a remark which the matron admitted having made, but m a jocular manner. . ■ ■. - In whatever manner the remark was made. Matron Muir certainly made a mistake m giving voice to it. She was dealing with a woman who was then , obviously very ill. : The matron knew this-r-and whatever construction may be placed upon it, the remark was not only unnecessary, but wanting m tact, having regard to the circumstances which prompted its utterance.- • . But this does not necessarily , imply that Matxonr Mjiir was unsympatheUcally. - indifCei.enit.^Q^jirieiJoiie.s • when: she made tlie remarkr'i '" .? . She maintained that she was" most concerned for the girl's health and considered that she should have been m hospital undergoing treatment instead of staying m a private home m the country. It was this concern which prompted her to say that the nurse was "a naughty girl who deserved a good spanking," meaning that she ought to be m hospital instead of at home. Nurses 9 Evidence That was the matron's explanation — and it was accepted by ; the board. ■ The weakest link m Mrs. McGombs' chain of allegations was that bearing upon her 1 previous statement to the "effect that nurses were afraid to report sick. It must have been a shock to her when she was confronted with the petition of protest" against "the innuendoes of Mrs. McCombs against our matron .... which we view with resentment and indignation." Also, when Lawyer Hunter announced that four ex-nurses and nurses from St. Helen's Home had asked to give evidence of the unfailing kindness of Matron Muir when they had reported sick. Leaving the hospital staff out of the question for the moment, it has to be admitted that the outside . testimony from women, who could have had no possible axe to grind carried the greatest possible weight m favor of the matron. Yet Mrs. McCombs was impressed not at all. Her only reply to the evidence of the nurses was. that none of it was independent; further, that the staff petition of protest, bearing 180 signatures, was not worth the paper on which it was written.No wonder Lawyer Hunter described her as a woman whom it was impossible to convince. Then, again, the free and open testimony of nurse after nurse, called by Lawyer Hunter — every one of them speaking up for their matron as a kindly, considerate woman whom they respected and loved, and whom they were certainly not afraid to approach when sick — was sufficient to convince The Board's Duty I anybody that Matron Muir was not the woman who could be other than kind and considerate to her staff. But Mrs. McCombs was not convinced and,. let it be said, she had the courage to say so. She has discharged with pluck an unpleasant duty which she felt cqmpelled to undertake. That she overstepped the mark and crashed, the whole country knows, but whatever may be said for or against Mrs. McCombs and her attack on the matron, her allegations served a useful purpose, m that they focussed public attention upon hospital .administration, which, m the past has been shrouded too much from public inspection. ■ Nurse Jones has passed away. It would not have mattered- whether her woi'king day had been only four hours. The disease which carried her off would have manifested itself m any circumstances and nothing could have saved her. . . But the inquiry into her death has thrown considerable light on the prevalence of sickness among the nurses. ■ This is due to overwork and overstrain, for which the matron cannot be blamed. She has to run the hospital on the staff the board provides, and, if the nurses are slave-driven— as they are-^--then the board, and not the staff, must bear the brunt of public condemnation.