A SERIOURS ACCIDENT

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3693, 22 December 1890, Page 2

A SERIOURS ACCIDENT

who £ had near iJikeia]iunai f |Aaß 'Returning ;tb;v])iß Wedoesday;; on his ;Bbbulder.'; ahd=;armi :v.He returned aiftet; i b .Eketahiina', where lip reported to the 'doctor .that hia arm was Aa : the man had been.!'thinking in the! township for a.numher of days wd was almost penniless,; the doctor hiin to go to'the Masterton Hospital; -After walking about Eketahiina forftcouple of days, the'man pcesehtad'bimself at the Masterton Hospital, where he waaadmitted'ori Friday. : On being examined it'was found the unfortu-' nate; fellow was suffering from a' severe, fracture of \ the arm and a dislocation of the shoulder, the limb being in a fearful state'owing to not having been attended to for several days. The doctor had the arm set in a temporary splint, and on the following day decided to administer chloroform and attempt to reduce the fracture. As the 'man had been drinking heavily, and was in a state ot delirium, », very small dose of chloroform was administered, During the operation, : which was being performed in the prosence of a number of attendants, the man made an apparent attempt to' vomit, but on being turned over the action of the heart. Was. observed to have oeas«l,-and ho 'was pronounced to be dead, Artificial respiration was resorted to, but the action of the heart could not be restored. The deceased was a native of Tyrone, Ireland, and wbb thirty-one years old.

Ttolnquosi An inquiry into the circumstances I attending the death of Montague was held at the Hospital this morning i before Coroner Koberta and the fnl-: lowing jury i-Messrs Houuslow, (foreman), Thompson, Woolcott, Hasty, and Chapman,' ,

-Cbe ÜBUftl oath' having been administered, the jury proceeded to view the body, ' •

Dr W H Hosking, sworn, deposed he was medical officer to the Hospital. He knew the deceased, who 1 was taken to the Hospital on Friday. Saw him on the evening of that day. He was suffering from a severe fracture of the left arm and apparent dislocation of the shoulder. Could not set the bone on Friday afternoon as the man was not in a fit state, The arm was enormously 'swollen. On'the following day he proceeded to tho hospital for the pwrposo of reducing the dislocation of the shoulder and setting the bone. About four o'clock h°o commenced to administer chloroform. The custodian, Mrs Williams, Mrl Boddington, and one of the assistants in the hospital were present at the time. He was particularly careful in this instance owing to the appearance of tho man, and took precautions by preparing ether, Knew that the deceased had been drinking, and was specially careful on that account. Carefully measured the chloroform with a rjrahra measure, which was usually held to be needless,. Administered She chloroform, whioh deceased took quite in the ordinary way, without much struggling, Tho deceased was rather slow in going off. Immediately tho narcosis was obtained the custodian and himself commenced to remove the splint, which had been put on the day previous, when he noticed an appavont attempt to vomit, Asked Mrs Williams to hold the basin, whilst tho custodian and himself rolled tho deceased over. Ho then found that tho heart of (he deceased had oeased to beat. The _ man was breathing till that time. At onco put the man on his baok, tilted up the chin, pulled the tongue forward, and used arti6cial respiration... This was continued for about half an hour, the battery also being used, but it was impossible to restore tlio beating of the heart, With the assistance of those present," the offorts were continued, until it was quite evident it was impossible to restore the deceased. The cause of death in his opinion was stoppage of the heart,-consequent upon the man being in the D.T's. A letter produced, in ' which Dr M'Lennan had refused to attend to the man, was received by witness from the deceased. This was' the first fatal case lie had had for thirty years, Chloroform had to bo administered in this ease, and on all occasions it was dangerous. Tho amount of chloroform given did not exceed ounce. To the jury : The arm of the man had been broken for about three days, It was not usual to call in a seoond doctor when chloroform was administered, In hia opinion it was very fortunato Dr. M'Lennan did not touch the case,

John Williams, custodian of the Masterton hospital, deposed that he know the deceased, who was brounht to the hospital on the qvening of the 19th inafc. Thoro was nobody with I him at the time, Admitted ths man to the institution and went through tho usual form. By tho instrnoHoos I of the doctcty h,e put a teejioiavj splint upqn the aita'of tho deceased. Also used purgative medicines on accopt of the man having been drinking, The deceased looked as if he had been drinking - heavily and aoEnowleged it. He said he had been ridin? through the bush, when biß horse shied and he was thrown on to Mb shoulder and arm, This was two full days before he came down. Asked the deceased why lie had - not come to the hospital before or had not been attended" to by the local doctor! and his reply was that lie had no idea his arm was broken, Tho deceased said he had hurt his arm whilst going out to his camp, Ho visited the camp and then returned to Eketabuna, The deceased was thirty-one years of age, aud was a native of Tyrone, Ireland. On Saturday morning; noticed deceased had rather a queer expression on his countenance and had an inclination to wander about, He was also sweating. Fancied there were symptoms, of ddiriw trmem by his actions, and he was watched, Assisted D: Hdskingin administering chloroform, He had had some years experience in hospitals, and had assisted the doctor in maay former cases. He was not competent : to say. whether death resulted from stoppage.qf the hqarfc; Everything possililp wasjiloiie to start tho heart's.aotion,'.'.. J, 0. Boddington, jDhairman of the Hospital Committee, deposed that he assisted the doctor to administer chloroform, and was present when the man died, Iu his opinion the doctor used wry effort possible to restore ' tho'action of the heart.

■ After a the jury returneda.verdiot"that the deceased, James his death through stoppage" of the heart's: Motion while under the; influence of chloro, form, death being, accplcrated through exceaeiye drinkiug;^v r ;- : :':