"MISTAKEN KINDNESS."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 186, 8 August 1930, Page 9

"MISTAKEN KINDNESS."

HANDLING ACCIDENT CASES.

VICTIM SHOULD NOT BE MOVED.

MAY CAUSE HIS DEATH,

Unskilful handling of the victim of an accident may do incalculable harm, and there have been several cases of .this in Auckland within the last few months. This fact was mentioned by Mr. S. E. Langstone, transport officer of the St. John Ambulance for the Auckland district, this morning, and his statement was supported by authorities at the Auckland Hospital. The first thing to do in . the case of an accident, said Mr. Langstone, is to call a doctor and to summon an ambulance, either from the hospital or. from the St. John casualty station. The victim may be made as comfortable as possible and kept warm, and an attempt may bo made to stop any bleeding, but only in very exceptional cases should any attempt be made to move him. An eminent American authority recently published an article, in. which lie stated that no less than 90 per cent of accident cases were aggravated by unskilful handling. Motorists, in particular, are often guilty of this mistaken kindness. In an accident case at Otahuhu recently several drivers of ears almost demanded the right to take the victim to tlu> hospital. .Fortunately there was a firstaid man on the scene of the smash, and, as .he knew that an ambulance was on its way from the city, he refused to allow the injured person to be moved. Had the victim in this case been bundled into an ordinary motor car, the consequences might easily have been fatal.

How One Death Was Caused. There was a case in England two years ago where a man was knocked unconscious by a. motor car. _ Two policemen attempted to restore him to his senses by applying artificial respiration, moving his arms backwards and forwards. Unfortunately the man had had a number of his ribs broken, and the unskilful treatment was actually responsible for his death. At the post-mortem examination ,it was revealed that the broken ribs had cut two large channels through his lmigs._ , A fractured collarbone is not a serious injury in itself, but there is a large artery across the bone, and if the patient is handled unskilfully internal hemorrhage takes place very easily. The same applies to broken ribs, although in such cases the damage done after 3 the accident is often irreparable, as the lungs or heart may be punctured.

Not so long ago there was a case in the city of a man falling out of a motor car and dislocating his neck. He was found by a milkman, who at once informed the' St. John Ambulance, and after having his neck in plaster for some weeks the man recovered. Had he been lifted by unskilful hands, the probability is that the spinal 'cord would have been severed, and death would have occurred. Carried Under a Light. There, was another case in the subj, urbs where a man was carried from one side of the road to the other in order that he might be laid down underneath a street light, and. the additional injury done in carrying him resulted in liis death. The St. John Ambulance have four motor ambulances, and the Auckland Hospital three, and attendants are on duty at all hours of the day and night. All the drivers and attendants are skilled first-aid men, and are called upon to sit for examination every year.