Crown Case Completed In Trial Of Doctor

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30578, 22 October 1964, Page 10

Crown Case Completed In Trial Of Doctor

(Neto Zealand Pres* Association; NEW PLYMOUTH, October 21. Bruce Wyville Rutherford, aged 47, a medical practitioner accused of the manslaughter of a woman whose name has been suppressed was alleged in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth today to have signed two statements admitting that he attempted to procure a miscarriage on the woman.

Rutherfurd has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter and to another of attempting to procure a miscarriage. Mr L. P. Leary, Q.G., with him Mr J. R. P. Horn, appears for Rutherfurd. Mr J. P. Quilliam represents the Crown at the trial which is before Mr Justice Hutchison.

The cross-examination of Leo Sefton, a pathologist, by Mr Leary was continued when the trial resumed today.

Sefton said that if cerebral damage resulted from a blow, the effects would include headaches, dizziness and sickness. Mr Leary: May the sickness the deceased had be attributed to the blow? Sefton: It seems remarkable that she had not reported symptoms of the blow earlier. To Mr Quilliam, Sefton said he would have expected to see signs of the effects of previous bruising. The presence of such an area in the brain would have been associated with severe symptoms. If bruising was produced by the deceased’s fall, it was so slight as to be insignificant. Another pathologist, Phillip Patrick Lynch, of Wellington, said he believed that after the administration of the pentathal anaesthetic the deceased never returned to full consciousness. The anaesthetic state continued unrelieved. This resulted in profound unconsciousness, which deepened to a profound coma and later voluntary breathing ceased. “So, for 24 hours, the deceased’s life was maintained by artificial respiration,” said Lynch. “I regard this death as an anaesthetic mishap.” “Blow Unimportant” He said he believed anoxia occurred in the deceased’s brain during the anaesthetic or afterwards, and that brain changes were produced by a continuing process from the anaesthetic till death. To Mr Leary, Lynch said he did not attach much importance to the blow on the head received by the deceased. Lynch said he was unable to specify exactly when the circulatory collapse in the deceased occurred. This was because a doctor had not attended the deceased until the late afternoon of July 21. Eric D’Ath, a pathologist, of Dunedin, said the left half of the deceased’s brain showed a large area of dead tissue. In this Was a mass of blood clot. The blood was hemorrhagic type. He came to the conclusion that if the death was associated with the pentathal it would seem the patient did not recover after the anaesthetic was given. In this case he thought the brain was deprived of blood for too long and part of it died. There was no recovery. Theory Rejected To Mr Quilliam, D’Ath said hemorrhages could have occurred for other reasons; but for the damage to result only from a fall was completely outside the realm of possibility. In such a case there would be concussion and more than likely a fracture, as well as a number of hemorrhages. He rejected completely the suggestion that such an injury caused the woman’s death. Mr Leary said an eminent neuro-surgeon had diagnosed that a blow had caused the damage.

“I would have to disagree,” said D’Ath. By 1929, he had performed about 3000 autopsies—“l have not kept count since then.” Police Evidence A detective sergeant, Garrett Hogan, said that when he saw Rutherfurd on September 1 at Stratford he asked the accused questions and the answers were taken down after Rutherfurd was told he need not answer. On September 2, the notes were transcribed and he again saw Rutherfurd who was again warned when the transcribed notes were shown to him. Rutherfurd said they were correct and signed them. Hogan said, he asked if Rutherfurd had seen the deceased. Rutherfurd said she said she was pregnant. He had given her pentathal and then examined her. Hogan said Rutherfurd was emphatic that she had had no cardiac collapse. Rutherfurd had said he used a uterinal sound, said Hogan. Rutherfurd told Hogan he had not said he “got it all away.” Told there was evidence of an abortion, Rutherfurd had said he had not done it, said Hogan. Rutherfurd also said he was not aware if the sound went through the uterus wall and he might have precipitated the death with the anaesthetic, but not caused it. Later, Rutherfurd had said he did it to end a pregnancy because the couple gave him a “sob story.”

Hogan told the Court that later that day Rutherfurd signed a statement at the Stratford police station admitting procuring an abortion. In the alleged statement Rutherfurd said he was told the deceased was pregnant. He found she was pregnant and he ended it. She did not have a cardiac collapse but the pentathal might have “triggered off” a cerebral hemorrhage. Rutherfurd said he was an expert in anaesthetics. Hogan said that on September 3, Rutherfurd told him the deceased had called her husband a “black b—and said she would marry Elstone when she got a divorce. 111-treatment and the possibility of taking custody of her children was the reason for the operation. Hogan said Rutherfurd had volunteered the information that he thought the deceased was six to eight weeks pregnant. She was bleeding slightly and he thought there were signs of an early miscarriage. Hogan said Rutherfurd said he would not have let the woman go home if she had not been “0.K.” Warning Queried, Mr Leary claimed the notes had been taken before Rutherfurd was warned. Hogan said that after Rutherfurd read the transcribed notes, he offered to sign them. Rutherfurd had said: “What happens now?” and had been told that charges would probably be preferred and manslaughter and criminal abortion were mentioned. Mr Leary said manslaughter was a more serious charge than criminal abortion. Hogan: Yes.

Mr Leary: Are you sure that in his fright he did not go all the way and admit abortion to avoid a manslaughter charge? As far as he was concerned Rutherfurd had admitted terminating a pregnancy, said Hogan. Opening the defence, Mr Leary said Rutherfurd was accused of using pentathal as a preliminary to an illegal operation. The pentathal was given only to see if the woman was pregnant and that was not ’illegal. What he decided to do later was different, “You have to remember that the accused was faced with two charges, one serious, so he accused himself of the minor crime,” he said. “Having a kind heart and helping a girl out is not a criminal offence.” Use Of Pentathal The first defence witness, Ross Clifton Gordon, a gynaecologist, said he had known Rutherfurd for 15 years. He regarded him as an expert anaesthetist Pentathal was safe for small cases and was used by itself quite often. If any problems arose, a suction apparatus should be available. Rutherfurd had his own equipment. A person should be able to go home about an hour after pentathal. There were some cases where it was hard to see whether a woman was pregnant or nc4 so an anaesthetic was used. A uterine sound’s general purpose was to determine the length of the uterine cavity and to check on the position of the uterus, said Gordon. A doctor would show “poor judgment” if he gave pentathal without assistance. It would be difficult to watch a patient’s condition when working in the region of the uterus. The trial will continue tomorrow.