BACK FROM DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 20318, 29 October 1929, Page 1

BACK FROM DEATH

" DEAD " MAH REVIVED EVIDENCE AT INQUEST. How a man who “ died ” in the operating theatre at Westminster Hospital was brought back to life by means of heart massage, and lived for nearly eight hours afterwards, was described at a Westminster inquest on August 30. Dr Olive Lloyd, house surgeon at the hospital, said that the man, Edward George Arnold Jones, a solicitor, was admitted into the private wards on August 20, and on the following day a malignant growth was removed from the tongue. On August 27 eight teeth were extracted under chloroform, but toward tho end of the operation, at 10.40 a.m., the pulse and respiration ceased. Artificial respiration was applied. and two doses of adrenalin injected into the heart muscle. Oxygen was given continuously, but with no effect, so an incision was made, and heart massage was performed by hand through the diaphragm. After several minutes tho heart began to beat again, but respiration did not begin for some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour after that. After it had recommenced the patient was returned to tho ward, oxygen still being given continuously, and he lived until 6.20 p.m. The breathing had become more regular, but it gradually failed. The Coroner: How long was heart massage done from the time that the heart and respiration ceased? Dr Llov'd: Between ten and fifteen minutes. So the man was practically dead?— Yes. Dr H. B. Weir, pathologist, said that death was due to syncope and shock during chloroform ancesthesia. In recording a verdict of death by misadventure Mr Oddie said: “This is one of those remarkable cases where a patient under an amesthctic lias to all intents and purposes died, yet is brought back from death to life. It shows the value of heart massage, which is now done by most surgeons when an anresthetic produces failure of the respiration'and heart. I dare say some cases do recover altogether, but I naturally do’not hear of ’them, lam quite satisfied that the anaesthetic was a suitable one, and that the operation was necessary and properly performed.