DEATH FOLLOWS FRACTURE OF SKULL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 94, 12 July 1927, Page 18

DEATH FOLLOWS FRACTURE OF SKULL

X-RAY EXAMINATION FAILS TO REVEAL WOMAN’S INJURY (Special to THE SUN.) CHRISTCHURCH, Monday. “It seems to me that there has been a lack—l do not want to say a lack of care—but a lack of something which should not have been wanting. I shall leave it to the public and to the Hospital Board to say whether any remedy is possible,” said the coroner, Mr. E. D. Mosley, at the conclusion of the inquest on Mrs. Elizabeth MeKnight to-day. Mrs. McKniglit was admitted to the Christchurch Hospital on June 15 as a result of injuries received to her head through falling off a tram. The X-ray examination showed no fracture, and she was discharged four days later. On June 27 she was readmitted in an unconscious condition, and died on June 30. “So far'as the fracture is concerned,” Dr. A. C. Sandston, honorary surgeon at the hospital, explained, “a 3-inch fracture at the base of the skull is not a long one and would be difficult to detect in an X-ray photograph.”

To the superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Fox, the coroner said: “I am quite sure that had the whole history of the case been made known to you, you would not have fallen in.” He then called James McKniglit, son of the deceased, who said that he saw his mother three times in the hospital, but she did not know him, and talked “all sorts of rubbish.”

“The evidence of the son was sufficient to convince a coroner that the woman should not have been discharged from hospital on June 19,” said Mr. Mosley. "I understand that the suprintendent has strict regulations regarding the admission and discharge of such cases, and if they had been carried out I do not think the woman would have been discharged. At the same time, it is quite probable that she would have died in any event.” “One does not like to think that a patient should be so discharged. The public mind would not be easy if that practice prevailed, but I do not think that it does, and the public is under the impression that the hospital is well conducted. I suppose mistakes must happen, and this is one of the mistakes.” A verdict of death due to liemorr* hage and laceration of the brain following on a fracture of the skull was recorded.