NUT SWALLOWED BY CHILD

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26094, 22 April 1950, Page 6

NUT SWALLOWED BY CHILD

OBSTRUCTION REMOVED FROM LUNG

SKILFUL OPERATION AT DUNEDIN

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, April 21. Six weeks ago a child of two inhaled the core of a gum tree nut and became seriously ill, with a dire threat of broncho-pneumonia. The obstruction was Amoved at the Dunedin Hospital to-day, after an operation requiring the highest degree of skill, by a local surgeon, and the patient is now reported to be making satisfactory progress. This operation undoubtedly saved the child’s life, but it is only one of many brilliant surgical feats that are frequently performed at the hospital. Reports of unusual operations requiring probably no more surgical skill than was needed to remove the nut from the child’s lung are occasionally considered to be “live news’’ on the part of cable news agents, particularly in the United States. It is rare indeed for any credit to be given either to a local surgeon or an institution for what is being done, because of the unyielding attitude of the British Medical Association to such publicity, which it regards as “unethical.” In addition to the removal of the obstruction from the lung, a skingrafting operation was performed on the childs right arm. which had earlier been caught in an electric wringer.