ST. HELENS HOME

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 19, 23 January 1913, Page 11

ST. HELENS HOME

. ENQUIRY AT AUCKLAND. (At TKIJSOaAl > a- i -WIE9B ASSOCIATION.) AUCKLAND, 22nd January. The enquiry into the administration of St. Helen's Maternity Home was continued this morning before Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M., Commissioner. Further evidence was called in support of the complaint made by the Auckland Timber Workers' Union in respect of the treatment of the late Mrs. Laura Elizabeth Chamberlain. Dr. Uobert Briffault said he did not consider that a duly qualified midwife should be allowed to insert sutures unless under the authority of a medical man, and in his presence. This was, of course, excepting in rare cases, where the services of a. medical man were entirely unobtainable, as in the backblocks. In the city it would be quite inexcusable for a midwife to insert sutures. To the Commissioner : No midwife was actually trained to perform surgical operations. It was outside her spnere altogether. She was not trained in the method of cleaning up a wound and drawing the tissues together. i Mr. Skelton : And avoiding the danger of such things as septicaemia ? Witness : Yes. There is always the danger of that. Mr. Skelton here quoted general rules for administration _of State maternity hospitals, as providing that in abnormal cases an approved medical practitioner must be called in, and the Government regulations for the guidance of midwives as defining a case of rupture as an abnormal case. He, therefore, submitted J that tho matron's action in inserting ! sutures was, to Bay the least of it, >a : distinct breach of the rules of the home. ■ Continuing his evidence, Dr. Briffault said that the insertion of sutures by the ( matron was a common practice-in mater- I nity homes, and though he emphatically condemned it, he agreed that Ehe matron had plenty of precedent in treating Mrs. Chamberlain in the manner described. Dr. Br'ffault, continuing, said that if tile death rate at St. Helen's was less than one-half per cent, the figure was a Very creditable one, the more so ac the cases treated in maternity hospitals were often complicated ones. To the Commissioner : The site of the St. Helen's Home was not a suitable one for the purpose, and the building, in his opinion, was not suitable. At this point, Mr. Skelton intimated that, subject to some small reservations, he would close his case. A written statement made by Mrs. Martha Porch, who was unable to attend owing to illhess, was put in by Mrs. Nicol, and was accepted by Mr. Maya, subject to any comment he might make. The .enquiry was adjourned . at, 3 o'olcck until to-morrow iridrning, be* cause of .indisposition on the part of* Mrs. Jficol. .