DEATH IN HOSPITAL AFTER ANAESTHETIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 270, 4 February 1928, Page 9

DEATH IN HOSPITAL AFTER ANAESTHETIC

QUESTION OF FOOD COMMENT BY CORONER Press AssocUsttov. CHRISTCHURCH. Frida, “Under the circumstances set out in the evidence I tiink that the contents of deceased's stomach should have been removed before the anaesthetic was administered. In my opinion, the nurse immediately in charge of deceased did not exercise the skill and promptitude in calling the house surgeon which the circumstances demanded." This was the opinion of the coroner. Mr. H. A. Young. S.M., at the Inquest on the death of Bruce Garner Kellar who died in the Christchurch Hospital immediately following an operation in volving the stitching of a wound tn the face. Detective-Sergeant Young represented the police, and Mr. C. S Thomas and Mr. W. F. Tracy, appeared for the parents of the boy. Giving evidence the boy's mother described the food eaten by the lad on the day of the accident. She said that when told of the boy's death witness asked the doctor if his heart gave out. and the doctor replied. “No." Her husband then said: “Did you give him the anaesthetic too quickly?" The doctor replied: "We may have done.” Her husband then said: "You killed him, then.” and the hospital sister who was with the doctor exclaimed. “Oh. don't say that.” QUESTION OF TIME Dr. T. L. Crooke, who conducted ihe post-mortem, said that death was due to asphyxia arising from the inspiration of vomited foodstuffs. The Coroner: Do you know if any precautions are taken before giving an anaesthetic to see that the patient has had no recent food. Dr. Crooke said that except in a case of great urgency, it was usual to allow from three and a-half to four hours. Dr. Church, assistant medical officer at Christchurch Hospital, was next called. He agreed with Doctors Crooke and Cotton that the shock would probably retard the digestive process. No allowance was made for that, except that sufficient time had elapsed in his opinion to enable the anaesthetic to be given with safety. The Coroner: Even with every care and skill a patient might die under these circumstances? Witness: That is so. “If a patient has had food recently before an anaesthetic.” said Dr Church, “there is always a very great risk of choking." Dr. H. R. Cotton, who administered the ether to the boy, said that the parents had told him that the boy had had nothing to eat since 5 p.m. The coroner asked if another case of this kind occurred would he hare the stomach washed out. Witness replied: That is a point. “MATTER OF ROUTINE" The coroner said he did not understand why extra precautions were not taken such as the cleaning out of the stomach in such cases. Witness replied that it was a matter of routine. Nurse R. Mackay said the boy had not been in bed long after the operation when he became ill. He became livid in the face and she called another nurse and a doctor. Dr. A. W. Wilkinson, house Burgeon, said that when called he examined the boy, who appeared to be choking. With a great deal of difficulty he opened the boy’s mouth and found a quantity of undigested food. The condition of the boy’s heart had been very weak. The Coroner: How do you account for the heart being so weak?—The sudden asphyxia would do that. The coroner returned a verdict that the cause of death was asphyxia.