S.O.S. to non-existent squad

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 41

S.O.S. to non-existent squad

PA Auckland Staff at an Auckland dental surgeiy tried to call a non-existent medical flying squad when a patient had a heart attack, the Coroner’s Court at Auckland was told. The Coroner, Mr Stephen Osborne, found that Paul Olav Gunnar Leetberg, aged 22, died at the surgery of Max Morris on April 24 from cardiac arrest while under general anesthetic.

He said the major factor precipitating the death was heart disease, of which neither Mr Leetberg’s doctor nor doctors attending him at the surgery were aware. To claim the man’s death was preventable would be conjecture. "I simply do not believe the late arrival of the ambulance sealed the man’s fate,” the Coroner said. “There is nothing to

show that administration of the anesthetic proceeded otherwise than to a normal plan.” Written evidence from Auckland Hospital said its critical-care unit no longer supported a flying squad. The hospital acknowledged receiving a telephone call from the dental surgery requesting specialist assistance. By the time a doctor was found, however, the person at the surgery ended the call without giving an address. It appeared that when the person requesting assistance was told a doctor was coming to the phone, it was presumed

one was on the way to the surgery. The hospital said its staff spent considerable time calling private hospitals trying to locate the scene of the emergency. The doctor who anesthetised Mr Leetberg, Dr Joseph Petoe, described how the patient deteriorated after 20 minutes and failed to respond to emergency treatment. Questioned by the Coroner, Dr Petoe said the operation would probably have been performed at a private hospital had it been known the patient suffered from a diseased heart. A pathologist, Dr Warwick Smeaton, said an

autopsy showed Mr Leetberg suffered from heart disease. Dr Robert Hay, a specialist anesthetist, told the court that in Auckland at least 100,000 such cases were completed safely in the past 25 years. Not until yesterday’s hearing did he know the flying squad was no longer available. - The Coroner said it was tempting to accept the view that the patient would have survived if the anesthetic had been done with all the hardware and expertise found in hospitals. However, he did not share that view.