‘Dead brain; dead patient'

Press, 5 July 1978, Page 1

‘Dead brain; dead patient'

PA Wellington A neurosurgeon told the Supreme Court at Wellington yesterday that he disconnected a respirator on a badly injured brawl victim after a series of tests had established that his brain was dead. He said under crossexamination that the patient’s heart was still beating, and he had a low blood pressure, continually boosted by the intravenous administration of a drug. “When cerebral death has been diagnosed, the patient is dead, and you do not treat dead people,” said the surgeon. Russell John Wirth, of the Wellington Hospital. He was giving evidence at the trial of Mark Godinet, aged 41, a chauffeur, who is charged with the

murder of Michael Wiki Taingahue, aged 16, at Newtown, Wellington, on April 21. The charge arose from a brawl at the Tramway Hotel between Black Power gang members and a group of Islanders, resulting in what a police inspector said was the worst destruction he had seen after a bar-room altercation in 26 years in the police. The Crown alleges that Godinet struck the youth with a piece of 4in by 2in timber. Mr Wirth was called to the accident and emergency department at the hospital, and operated on Taingahue on the night of the brawl. The trial, which began on Monday, will continue today.