CHILD'S DEATH.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20088, 18 November 1930, Page 5

CHILD'S DEATH.

VERDICT AT INQUEST. The inquest into the death of Violet Esther Dean, aged five, of Greendale, who died under an anaesthetic, while undergoing an operation while suffering from pneumonia at the Christchurcli Hospital on November Bth, was resumed by the Coroner (Mr H. P. Lawry), yesterday. Sergeant A. Leckie represented the police. Dr. W. Cotter, medical practitioner, pave evidence of attending the operation. At the beginning he. examined the child, and he considered then that she was fit to receive an anaesthetic. The operation had lasted about five minutes when the child collapsed. Restorative methods taken were of no avail. The operation had been the only chance of saving the child's life. There was a large mortality rate after operations of that nature. Dr. L. H. Cordery, who administered the anesthetic, said that the operation had been necessary to save the child's life. He had Tecognised that the heart was a bad case. Dr. A. B. Pearson, pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, gave evidence of making a post-mortem examination of the child. This revealed that death might have occurred at ally time, apart from the influence of the anaesthetic. Dr. S. A. Orchard confirmed Dr. Pearson's evidence. - The Coroner's verdict was that death was ;due to heart failure, following empyema.