DOCTOR'S DUTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 3, 3 July 1943, Page 6

DOCTOR'S DUTY

COMMENT AT INQUEST

p- A! ' NAPIER,. T,his Day. The duty of. a doctor to notify the Coroner should there be suspicion of a death-not being due to a'natural cause was .emphasised by the • Coroner, Mr. J. Miller, at the conclusion of an inquest into. the, death of a woman" in May in the public hospital. During the inquest evidence was given by a doctor that he was of the opinion that the death was' due ; to enteritis, but. he sent certain organs away for analysis following a post-mortem examination, although he considered that, the possibility of poison was' so remote ' that he did not feel, justified .in,notifying the Coroner. If the analysis established the exact cause.of.'the enteritis,-and that all such,probable causes could;be no other than natural, there was no necessity to inform' the Coroner. • Mr. Miller said, on the'other, hand, that if . among other, natural likely causes there was suspicion that one.of the causes might have been an'unnatural cause it was the duty of the doctor to notify the; Coroner. Mr. Miller'also stressed the importance -of forwarding organs to the. analyst in a proper container personally by a police officer. ' . ■ The inquest closes public speculation about the. reason r for* eleven' days' digging by a police/party in .the Napier rubbish tip, the'police "evidence'revealing that the'search was' for a /bottle containing ■• stomach powder. : An .an- j alysis of the contents following discovery of the bottle revealed', no .trace of poison, 'although •' the analyist's :■ report ,on the organs showed the discovery of one-twentieth of a grain in the intestine. \ ' ' ..'■'., : The Coroner's ; verdict was that death was' due to heart trouble and swelling of the lungs. ■ '•.-■••