KILLED BY A NEEDLE. Physicians Puzzled for Years. REMARKABLE HOSPITAL CASE. A Woman Who Would Apparently Die and Again Come to Life.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 194, 12 March 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

KILLED BY A NEEDLE. Physicians Puzzled for Years. REMARKABLE HOSPITAL CASE. A Woman Who Would Apparently Die and Again Come to Life.

When Nellie Steelo went to Bellevue Hospital she was a comparatively yout,g womaD, and it was thought that after a tew days' or weeks' treatment she would be out again cured of the s disease from which she was suffering. That was nearly thirty years ago. Weeks, months, years passed away, and Nellie still remained. She became a fixture, and as much a part of the building as the dull blue stones of which its walls are made. She had the gentlest \ disposition, and her patience under sutfex'ing was a part of the email talk that every one heard who visited Bollevue. When bug first entered the hospital her complaint was diagnosed as lead poisoning and general debility. The treatment indicated was given with no perceptible result. She seemed to fail slowly, and when everything known to the medical profession failed to be of any benefit there was a wise shaking of heads among the"house staff of physicians and they gravely came to the conclusion that they did not know what was the matter, a conclusion reached as usual after the stomach had, been turned into a drugmill and the system weakened by useless experimentation. Bfifore a year had passed eho became so weak that she could hardly move, and the only place where she felt easy was in her cot. Nearly thirty years ago ehe went to bed and never got up afterwards. Her case had been a puzzle, and she had been watched by hundreds of physicians during her long time of sickness, One of her peculiarities waß fits, which came regularly every two weeks. The attacks lasted about t>vo hours. They were not generally aevere. If they had been, her wenk system • could not have stood the shock, Light >s they were, they were looked upon with alarm, as it was expected that ehe would die tn one of the convulsions. But when years rolled by and the fita came and went with surprising regularity, they were looked upon as harmless, and deemed an effort of nature to get relief from some troublesome oondition. Fainting was another strange characteristic. A slight shudder would pass over her body, her eyes would turn upward, and then she would become unconscious. There was no regularity in the fainting periods. Sometimes the faintness would appear every day, and then it would not come for weeks. It was a strange condition. Every indication of death would be manifested, and so perfect was the resemblance that on one occasion, when two newly appointed orderlies Baw her the first time, they judged that she was dead, and got tha dead box, and carted her off to fhe deadhouse. She came to her senses and made her presence known in time to keep horeelf off the dissecting table. The shortest fainting attack lasted nine minutes ; the longest seventeen days ; the average eight days. During these periods she did not eat Stimulants were given bypodermically. Digitalis were freely used to strengthen the heart's action. How she lived on from year to year no one could guess. The amount of food ehe ate would make the legs of a mouse weak in a week. Tbe most interesting feature of the case, from a medical standpoint, was the irregularity of the heart's action. There »aa a maiked disturbance of the mitral valve, and its flutteringB dould be plainly heard without 'the stethoscope. Th« mitral valve waa'not only affected, but overy heart murmur known to specialists could be detected. Her ca?e was 1 well known to the medical schools, and when lectures upon the heart were given i f . was referredjto, and hundreds of students have got a correct idea of heart symptoms from a physical examination of the patient During the years that she has boen in the hospital, save when she first entered, there has not been a physician who had the courage to give a name to her disease for publication, When Lawson Tate, the great English surgeon, was over here last year, he was shown hia patient, and made a thorough examination of her. He concluded that it was some spinal trouble, but admitted that it was the most puzzling case that he ever saw. During the last few months every part of her body was dry and hot to the touch. She seemed to have a high fever, but was not restless, and made no complaint. Her pulse was so rapid that it could not be counted. Her,, body was greatly emaciated, and the flesh was unusually sensitive. Wherever even a light preseure was put on it a redness would follow immediately, and an annoying ulceration would be set up. The ulcers were unusually persistent, and soothing treatment was given, but with no idea of healing them. One of the patients in the same ward with Nellie became delirious, and threw a crutch that Btood near her cot, and it struck Nellie's foot. An angry inflammation followed that apeedily developed into a malignant ulcer. Gangrene set in and spread rapidly. This was a dangerous complication, If the foot was not removed blood poisoning would soon appear, and if it was cut off the shock would probably kill the patient. It was considered that there was $ chance, if the foot was taken off and none if it was left on, and it was determined to operate. Ether was given, The foot was cut off just above the aukle. The flesh was almost blo-dless, and of a dull white colour. It had an unusual odour. The operation was quickly performed, the stump being, carefully ligatured and the patient taken" to her cot. Sbe rallied from the shock. On the second day after the operation she had one of her faint periods, and her body had the appearance of death. There was no pulse discernible at the wrist, the heart-beat was only a slight flutter, and the breath was confined to the throat. At the end of ten days there was no sign of life, Still it was not deemed safe to say that she was dead. At tho end of fourteen days the body began to putrefy and it was then known that Nellie waß dead. There was no pomp and ceremony at her funeral. Her bier waß the dissecting table. Doctors had grown old and died waiting on opportunity to find out what was the matter with Nellie. The various organs in the body were removed. They were all bloodless and every one showed some characteristic disease, The heart was examined last. It was larger than normal. The knife eank easily through the muscular tissue and then came to an obstruction. It was near the mitral valve. A careful dissection was made, and when the flesh was cleared away tne Burgeon held in hia hand a perfect needle. It was encysted. How it got there is not known, but it mußt have been many.years. years ago. That it caused all her ailments by interfering with the circulation there is no doubt, — New York Letter in •' Cincinnati En- j quirer," : j

We lately heard of a housemaid, who, about to leave a family rather unexpectedly and urged to gire a reason for it, simply said, " I can't stay, the young ladies spsak Auch bad grammar."