IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 183, 2 August 1913, Page 9

IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT.

WOMAN'S SUICIDAIf ACT, THE ATTENDANTS EXONERATED. .The death occurred at the Auckland Mental Hospital on Thursday afternoon of a patient, a young woman, who had been found lying seriously injured on the pavement beneath a window lof one of the upstairs rooms at the Wolfe Homo portion of tho institution oh Tuesday morning. The woman, who had l>ecn . assisting to clear away the breakfast dishes in.the nurses' quarters, was miascd , when one of the nurses conducted the .patients hack to their own part of the building, as was usual every morning immediately the cleaning up was done A search was made, and the miseing patient was found as described, with both arms broken at the wrist, her skull - fractured, and suffering other injuries. The woman lived, but wan unconscious for two days before she died. An inquest was held at the Mental Hospital this mofiihig, tho Coroner (Mr. E. <!, Onlten, H.M.) having n jury of six with Jiim, HISTORY OK TDK CASE. Dr, 11, Mi Brattle, tho superintendent of thft lifi [iil ■!, siid that the patient was admitted on January fl. when she was melancholic, suffering from severe depression, and certified lis having- mileldnl tendencies. Plie apparently improved rapidly after ndniiMinn lo the Jtospitsl, and on January IS was considered welt enough to be trsnufnrred from the main building to the Wolfe Home, During the fix months she had been In the innlitlition she bad npp»Mircd to he rca* honably well, and had made no suicidal attempt, and, so far nn he could learn from the nurses, had sliown no fimcidal tendency. Last week one of the near relative* considered the young woman no well Hi ii, idie intended applying lor iho p.ilii-nl,'.i discharge. On the morning of Tuesday the patient wan dusting the nurses' dining room, in company with Muter Gibbons and Nurse Clark.- pister Gihliunn went to answer a ring at tho telephone, and Nurse Clark soon after left tho room to open the door to the paticnte' quartern for those who were nsMstiiig in the nurses' quarters io go hack to their own. Apparently, as soon M flic was left alone, the deceased left tho room, ran upstairs, and, in hlj opinion,- threw herself forcibly from tho upstairs window of one of the ntirfle* bedrooms, As soon a* Nurse Clark returned, she missed the patient, and on looking for her found her on the pavement below the upstairs window jmenLionerL lying full length egainst the wall, bleeding and unconscious. She was at once taken inside and attended tp hy Dw. Lee and Gray. The accident occurred between fl a.m. and 10 n.m, on Tucl.da}'. Ho was informed about noon, anfl at once came and exnminetl tlir yloung woman. .She was unconscious and bleeding from a wound in the right temple, which was much bruised. Tile skull' was fractured, both anna were broken at the wrist, and four ribs were broken. Witness saw the patient frequently between then and the time of her death on Thursday, ebtfrflj after 2 p.m.,' amiolio did not regain eonnciousriera. I U. 6 made a. post-mortem examination, and found the skull very badly fractured on the right side, and both bonca nbovij the oyr.a were fractured, while there] was also considerable internal injury to the brain. Tho injury to the brain and -shock were the actual eau*M of death. A QUESTION Oh' JUDGMENT. In answer to tho coroner the witnesssaid thai he did not disayrea with' the transfer of the jraiicnt from tho main building to- the Wolfe Home, and he thought the. patient* subsequent stale had justified tho transfer, it was alTiile that when paticnta were suicidal thoy must not be let out of sight by the nurse in clraxgc. Consequent vii the patient's behaviour since her admission, witness did not regard her n« n-suicidal.patient, and the nurse, in leaving her for a I moment, did not. commit a breach of the regulations. Tho doors of the nurses' rooms were always locked in the main building, and he thought it would be a wise precaution.that tiicy should be so also in the Wolfe Home (a. separate building). The difference between the nurses' rooms at tho main building nnd those in tlie homo was that in thn latter thq nurses'.rooms did not adjoin, or open into, other rooms. In the "suicidal book" this particular paticnt'e name had been erased hy Dr. Gray, t,o that the nursea wcro not required to treat her as a suicidal patient, A DEBATABLE POINT, Dr, Beattio staled that "once suicidal always suicidal" wus bis opinion, and ho acted as far as possible on that belief; but to carry it out in. full would scarcely bo worl;a!>ln ; ns it would mean that once, a patient was committed an fiuicirinl that patient would have to remain always in tho institution, Xlicrn hud been cn*e» of suicidal patient* discharged from the institution who had committed wuicldn yean, after their discharge. Still, physical condition would havo uiiicli io do with the mental state of tlie patient, and In tliis instance, tho patient bad improved very much physically nftcr her admission, und had always been fairly cheerful when Jin had seen licr. Witness did not MB the patient at nil till February, and ho then saw no reason to disagree with Dr. Gray's judgment in not treating the patient as suicidal. TAKEN OIK THE "CAUTION CAItD." Dr. Gray, neninr assistant medical ofliccr at Ihc institution, raid tliat the patient improved gradually after admihsion. He did not remember tliu actual date on which he took her off thn "caution card" lircpt for -patients Who required constant observation, but it was some lime between January 23 and January 30. fcho waa then in much improved phvsteal and mental' condition. Ho did not think lii.it any blaino was attachable io Nurse Clark for leaving tho patient for n minute or two. • '' ■ Nurse Gibbon.-! corroborated what the doctors had eaid us In this improvement in tho patient's mental and physical condition. Just prior to tho accident tho patient.had had a good breakfast and appeared cheerful, \n giving *her account of the accident the witness corroborated what Dr. Beattie bad stated. NO BLAME ATTACHABLE. After the coroner bad addressed them on the points of the case the jury spent five minutes in consideration, and returned a Terdiefc that the deceased had died aa the result of injuries received from throwing herself out. of an npstairs window at the hospital, there being no blamo attachable to anyone. Sub-lnapeefo'' Johnston represented the: police at the proceedings, and Messrs. J. W. Stewart (official visitor to the tutkm) and Hy. Wilding (district inspec-