YOUNG GIRL'S DEATH

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 104, 4 May 1935, Page 15

YOUNG GIRL'S DEATH

CLAIM BY PARENTS

SOME UNUSUAL FEATURES

A HEART INFECTION

There were several unusual features about a claim that was heard in the Arbitration Court yesterday afternoon in which the main issue was whether a girl's death in the Wellington Hospital was caused, for compensation purposes, by a prior accident. The Court decided in the negative and the defendant was granted a non-suit.

Mr. Justice Page presided, and associated with him were Mr. W.. Cecil Prime and Mr. A. L. Monteith.

The plaintiff, Frederick Gilbert Reeves, a relief worker, formerly a motor-driver, claimed compensation from Alex. Cowan and Sons (N.Z.), Ltd., in respect of the death of his daughter, Elsie Reeves, aged 17, in the Wellington Hospital on June 6, 1934, following the breaking of an arm, on October 9, 1933, when the girl was employed by the defendant company. It was claimed that the plaintiff and his wife had been partially dependent upon the deceased's earnings. Compensation had been paid from the date of the accident until the girl's death. The main defence was that death had been due to pre-existing heart trouble, which had not been aggravated by the accident. Mr. R. H. Boys, for the plaintiff, said that after the accident the girl's arm was set at the hospital and she was discharged on the following day. She remained at home for four weeks with her arm in plaster, then she returned to the hospital and the plaster was removed. It was then found that the arm had a distinct bow. This was corrected and the arm was again set in plaster. When the plaster was again removed in January, 1934, a large lump was Eound to have formed on the forearm. Accordingly the arm was again attended to on January 18. She remained in hospital from then until she died.*On February .15.her parents w;ere advised that she would be discharged, .but in view of the fact that her ter- , .perature was above normal her removal ■was considered inadvisable. Tests for kidney and lung trouble proved negative. An abrasion had been found near the point ..of the fracture. On April 13 the girl's' parents were advised that she had a clot of blood in her blood-stream and was, suffering from heart trouble. Blood transfusions were of no avail and she died on June 4. A post-mortem examination revealed a form of bacterial heart disease, the diagnosis of which was still more or less a mystery to the medical profession. One of the ways in which a germ could enter the system was through an abrasion, said Mr. Boys, and it Was very probable that that had happened in the present case. DOCTOR'S EVIDENCE. Dr. N. F. C. Hill, a house surgeon at the hospital, said that during April it was established that there was bacterial infection of the girl's heart. It would be impossible to say how and when the infection commenced. The effect would be more severe when the heart was already affected, as.the deceased's heart had been when she en-< tered the hospital. : To Mr. W. E. Leicester, counsel for the defendant, .the witness.said that the infection must have been present when the girl was admitted to' the hospital. It could have entered through the teeth or tonsils, as well as through an abrasion. Mr. Leicester: Is it conceivable that a fracture per se could have set it up? —Not a fracture such as she had. Is there anything in the hospital records to show that death was due to the fracture?~l can't say there is. If the records show that on re-admis-sion on January 16 she had a pulse of 90, and in the next .three days her temperature went up progressively from 99 degrees, those facts would be consistent with the presence of some bacterial infection of the heart?— They would. ASEPTIC CONDITIONS. To Mr. Boys, the witness said..that operations nowadays were performed under aseptic conditions, and in view of the fact that the abrasion had healed without any sepsis it was unlikely that the germ entered during the operation, of January 18. By far the commonest way for the germ to enter the blood-stream was through the alimentary tract, the witness added, ■ The plaintiff said that prior to the accident his daughter had never required medical treatment. When she was about seven or eight years of age, according to a medical examination made in the ordinary course at school, she was suffering from an enlarged gland of the heart. , Witness took her to another doctor, "who said that she certainly had a swollen gland, but there was no cause for alarm. Since then there had been no sign of any trouble. His daughter had told him that when her arm was being prepared for the operation of setting it a nurse had' accidentally nicked it. Subsequently he saw an abrasion, on the point of the elbow. Witness said he had experienced great difficulty in obtaining reports on the girl's condition. It was about April 13 that he first learnt that her condition was precarious- owing to the heart disease. . SYMPATHy WITH PARENTS. Mr. Leicester, In asking for a nonsuit, said that everybody would have a great deal of sympathy with the parents,, and he was bound to point out that the defendant company had paid compensation until the girl died. ■ Investigations .showed,* however,. that through some unknown means the girl had died of a bacterial infection of the heart, and the company took up the position that it was not liable for compensation. He submitted that the plaintiff had failed to establish any reasonable inference that the accident had caused the girl's death; on the evidence the contrary appeared to be the case. At the best it was only a supposition that the infection had entered in the way alleged, and it was equally conceivable, that the infection was present before the accident happened. Mr. Boys said it was contended that there was a direct chain of causation between the accident and the girl's death. Had the accident made her heart susceptible during treatment 'to the influence of a virulent germ which caused her death? He submitted it could be reasonably inferred from the evidence that the accident had been an indirect means of the infection reaching the heart. After a brief retirement Mr. Justice Page said- that the Court had come "to the conclusion that the evidence produced by the plaintiff was insufficient as it stood to establish his proposition and for that reason the case must fail.