JOCKEY’S ANKLE INJURY

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29891, 3 August 1962, Page 11

JOCKEY’S ANKLE INJURY

Break Diagnosed As Sprain It was normal practice for a person coming to the casualty department of the Christchurch Hospital with an ankle injury to have an X-ray but where a sprain was diagnosed an X-ray would be dispensed with, said Dr T. Morton, medical superintendent-in-chief of the Christchurch Hospital, commenting yesterday on a report that an apprentice jockey who had been told at the hospital that he had a sprained ankle later found his ankle was fractured The jockey. B D Collins was thrown from a horse on July 21. When he was examined it the Christchurch Hospital he was given a certificate which said he had a sprained ankle and a torn ligament, but would be fit for work m two days Collins returned to the hospital three days later because he was in pain, but was told again that it was a bad sprain only After being examined by a private doctor. Collins's ankle was X-rayed, and it was found he had a spiral fracture. His leg was then put in plaster—l2 days after the accident. Dr. Morton sa d that there had been a slip at the hospital, and he would be the first to admit that doctors were not infallible in diaznosing ankle injuries, particularly when the ankle was puffed up with a sprain.