HOSPITAL SENSATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 80, 2 April 1908, Page 6

HOSPITAL SENSATION.

NURSE'S NARROW ESCAPE. STRUGGLE WITH A DEMENTED PATIENT. The usual quietude of Darlinghurst was rudely disturbed one night recently by one of the most sensational incidents that has occurred in the history of hospitals in Sydney. From time to time the danger of nurses having to attend to delirious patients has been pointed out, and the incident that occurred at St. Vincent's Hospital emphasises the fact. The first intimation that anything unusual was happening was received at about 9.30, when the agonised screams of a woman were heard coming from the northern balcony of the institution, which overlooks Burton-street. The attention of pedestrians was immediately attracted, and a glance upwards showed that one of the nurses was having a desperate struggle with one of the patients. The man, who was in a state of wild delirium, had escaped from his bed and gone on to the balcony. On noticing his absence the nurse went in search of him, and locating him she endeavoured to persuade him to return to the ward. But instead of submitting quietly the patient seized the nurse in his arms, and attempted to hurl her over the balcony into the garden below, a distance of about 40 feet. She resisted him, however, and her agonised appeals for help quickly attracted the attention of both patients and nurses. One of the former,. realising that something desperate was happening, jumped out of bed, and was first to the rescue. He was quickly followed by a batch of nurses and wardsmen, with the result that the nurse was rescued from the demented man's grasp, and the man himself overpowered, and conducted back to his bed. The incident caused quite a flutter in the hospital, and it was some little time before the excitement passed away.