Woman Claiming £2908 Damages From Hospital

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29237, 22 June 1960, Page 17

Woman Claiming £2908 Damages From Hospital

(New Zealand Press AtsoctaKcnj

‘ INVERCARGILL, June 21. Burns allegedly received from . hot-water bottle while a patient In Elizabeth George Maternity Hospital, are the basis of a claim for £2500 general and £4OB special damages by Iris Stella Catton, aged 33, of Invercargill, ggainst Helen and Violet Burnett manage the hospital, being heard in the Supreme Court at Invercargill. jlrs Catton told the Court in evidence today that her first recollections after the birth of her second child on October 10, 1958, were waking up in Kew Hospital. She found her legs in a ‘‘shocking ©ess.” Mr Justice Henry is presiding, jir R. J. Gilbert, of Dunedin, is appearing for the plaintiff and Mr I. A. Arthur, with him Mr p Toomey, for the defendants. The hearing will continue tomorrow. Mrs Catton said she had been admitted to Elizabeth George Hospital on October 6. She had

S “® eri ®< tom toxaemia, wfiampsiau 8116 devel °P«i

She was in Kew Hospital for ix weeks and was advised to have plastic surgery on her legs. . done in Calvary Hospital, Christchurch. J"* 1 she had suffered considerable pain from the Burns. She was very conscious of what people thought about her legs. She once was fond of swimming, but would not go to the beach without her stockings now. 6

To. Mr Arthur, plaintiff said she had given up swimming completely.

Howard Hunter, medical superintendent of Kew Hospital, said eclampsia was a toxic condition of pregnancy in which the body retained its Waste products and the effect of the waste products on the patient’s brain produced intermittent fits. It was a dangerous condition and Mrs Catton’s case was a severe one with fits every 10 minutes. Eclamptic maternity patients' would require special care in the use of hotwater bottles.