MEDICAL STAFF CLEARED

NZ Truth, Issue 1214, 7 March 1929, Page 2

MEDICAL STAFF CLEARED

Coroner Rejects Allegations In' Porirua Case 'SEQUEL TO NURSE'S DEATH

(From "N.Z. Truth's" "Wellington Representative.)

Officially, maybe, the last has been said concerning- the inquiry conducted before Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M., m his capacity of coroner to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the death of Edith Mary Paynter, a nurse employed at the Porirua Mental Hospital. *

THE doctors .and officials at the,.hos pital have been e%onerated fror all blame and the Charges c neglect and ineptitude levelled, agains them, the coroner finds, } are wlthou foundation. ;.';■' Mr. Barton has delivered a length written judgment, m which he sai nothing to cavil at m the attitud adopted by the officials towards Mis Paynter. ' As already stated, the cause of th unfortunate girl's death occurred a the result of a cerebral haemorrhage arising from a ruptured aneurism a the base of the brain. This an6urisr was congenital m origin. There wer< however, certain other matters, sai Mr. Barton m his. judgment, that ha been raised at the inquiry. These re lated to complaints concerning th treatment Miss Pa'ynter had receive! Concerning the complaints of lack of .. proper skill, incorrect diagnosis and. failure to diagnose v the true cause of the patient's •■ suffering, there was, said the coroner, an overwhelming array of evidence which refuted these charges. Dealing with the. charge of lack'c proper care and attention m that sh had been neglected and starved an detailed for duty when Uttfit for sue the judgment continued: — "I find that the evidence makes i clear that to date there seems to hay b.een no special provision or facilitle at this hospital for the comfort of ' sick' attendant. i J "Matron Brand agreed with thi view m her evidence, explaining tha m this connection she and the mcdi cal staff had to do their best with th facilities that the old . buildings pro vided; that she was not satftifled wit the existing conditions, but had advo cated a specially arranged sick war for sick nurses. That had since bee provided and would soon ;be open. i "It has been the practice so far i for the nurses off duty to attend to ) a sick sister nurse and to be asIsisted to some extent by a patient or patients who are reliable for such purpose, w

- CJ ; ~ : 1 s • s- ... "From t the evidence adduced before m nie I formed the opinion that the of scale of diet used was more in keepat ing with the somewhat deficient faciliut ties for general attention than with the standard to be expected in a iy properly- constituted sick ward, w "Turning to the specific complaints v ie I am satisfied that no nurse was dess tailed to attend constantly or regular- ■ ly to Miss Paynter and that in conseie quence she was frequently left alone a.s and that her meals were frequently, ;e, or mostly, taken to her by a patient. at * m "The charge that no provision • e was made for cleaning and tidyj,j ing Miss Paynter's room is again i( l no more 'than the application to e . this case of the general conditions tie that were admitted to exist. lam id. satisfied that the room did not go dirty or untidy." Concerning" the complaints that methods, varying from undue persuaGiven Interest slon to active disciplinary measures, °' were adopted to compel Miss Paynter he to resume duty, Mr. Barton said: 1^ "I find that there is not a scintilla of 2 " evidence in support of this complaint. I am satisfied that, having diagnosed *t the trouble as hysteria, and having e adopted such measures as rest and es quietness, with daily massage, with a comparatively satisfactory results, the medical staff took the view that 5 is it might be to the benefit of the pa*t tient to resume light* duties. :*" "Thus she would be given an inae ,terest that would tend to take her °" mind off contemplation of her. sympth toms. ,1 am further satisfied that in °" consequence of 4 this they put suggesra tions to the patient; that these were Jn put in an encouraging and kindly manner, and i that they were ac- .. quiesced v in by the patient. "As to the suggestion that Miss Paynter's door was locked as a disciplinary measure in an endeavor to force her back to work, I have to say

that I was surprised .when it was first made and amazed that it was persisted m. I / "It is made quite clear that the locking of the door for two .days was adopted m the patient's interests when the unwise behavior of the other nurses m frequenting her room was tending to defeat the medical officers' instructions of rest and quiet and a warning notice had failed to remedy the mischief of that unwisdom." The coroner concluded: "In the result, therefore, I find that: (1) Owing to the lack of up-to-date facilities and arrangements for sick nurses, MissPaynter/ was, during her illness, left alone a good deal, and there is evidence that the food supplied to her at times lacked daintiness and tempting qualities. (2) That each of the other specific complaints is definitely disproved, and (3), that during her illriess Miss Paynter was treated with skill and kindness."

At an inquest down South the other day it appeared that deceased (whose death was attributed to heart trouble) was a. heavy smoker and long accustomed to consume an ounce of tobacco a day. His* medical adviser considered this excessive, but thought the quality of the tobacco, m this case, was to blame as well. "You can't," he said, "go on smoking these imported tobaccos, almost all of them loaded with nicotine, without paying the penalty sooner or later.'-' The coroner .said he couldn't understand why people would insist m so many cases, m smofiing poisonous foreign tobaccos when we had here m New Zealand perhaps the purest brands of tobacco produced, and so comparatively free from nicotine as to render them perfectly safe. Safe they certainly are and the absence to a very considerable extent of nicotine m them is undoubt-: edly due to the toasting of the leaf. This not only renders them practically innocuous but develops their flavour and aroma as well. Popular brands are: Biverhead Gold (mild), Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), medium, Cavendish medium and Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead) full.*