Boy had sore head, not headache — doctor

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 32

Boy had sore head, not headache — doctor

NZPA staff correspondent Hong Kong A New Zealand doctor who first examined a Chinese boy, aged 10, who later died of head injuries has.told a Coroner’s Court in Hong Kong that” he had drawn a distinction to himself that the boy was complaining of a sore head and not a headache. Dr David Mason, a graduate of Otago University who worked at Wellington and Whangarei before deciding to take a year off to travel and work in different medical environments before starting a career in surgery, also said he was satisfied that the boy, Mak Chi-Fai, had not vomited before being examined. Mak hurt his head in a fall at school in January of last year, and died eight days later after lying in a coma for a week. In earlier evidence, the Coroner, Mr John Hansen, and a jury of three were told that Mak was initially examined by Dr Mason in the casualty department of the United Christian Hospital. He was sent home with medicine, but when his condition deteriorated overnight he returned to the hospital and was then transferred to Kwong Wah Hospital for surgery the next day. An earlier inquest found Dr Mason guilty of criminal negligence and a warrant for his arrest on a charge of manslaughter was issued. Subsequently, Hong Kong’s Attorney-General, Mr John Griffith, ordered that the inquest be reopened. He directed that the court should in particular consider

aspects of Dr Mason’s legal responsibilities. Dr Mason was in England at the time of the original inquest, but he returned to Hong Kong for the reopened inquest. He told the Court he had been told by Mak’s father that the boy had vomited three times and was shown a bag containing the alleged vomit. The bag, he said, had contained a small amount of frothy liquid which had no food content or smell.

“It was rather more consistent with spit rather than vomit,” said Dr. Mason. “It was not of a gastric content.” If he had been satisfied that the boy had vomited, he would have been particularly cautious.

Dr Mason said the boy had also told him that the pain to his head was on the skin, not inside the skin. The boy told him his head did not feel worse when shaken.

He said he had examined the boy’s central nervous system, his balance, and his pupils as well as taking facial muscles, tongue muscle, neck muscles, and reflexes. Checks had been made of blood pressure and pulse, but not of respiration and temperature because Mak did not have a fever and there was nothing wrong with his breathing. The boy was detained 30 minutes for observation.

Dr Mason told the Court that he usually saw 70 patients in a daytime shift at the United Christian Hospital compared with about 30 or 40 in New Zealand.

The inquest is continuing.