DOCTOR CENSURED.

Franklin Times, Volume XVII, Issue 73, 29 June 1927, Page 6

DOCTOR CENSURED.

CHARGE OF DRUNKENNESS. NIGHT CALL TO DYING CHILD. Allegations of drunkenness against' a doctor brought down upon him the censure of a coroner’s jury when the death of Haydn Clarence Richards, a six-year-old son of Mr. Haydn Richards, colliery clerk, of Iscennen Road, Ammanford, was inquired into (says ? London paper),. It was explained that the child’s burial had to be postponed owing to the absence of a death certificate. Evidence showed ..that deceased was taken ill on April 25, and was attended by Dr. Kelman Smith, who was acting as locum tenens to Dr. Inman, the colliery doctor. A Mr. Frank Robinson, with whom the father lived, went to call Dr. Smith to the child between 2.30 and 3 o’clock one morning, but failed to get him out of bed, although he went into his room and pleaded with him to come. Robinson declared the doctor’s eyes were red and fiery, and the room smelt of liquor. The doctor, witness added, told him to go to the public health authority. He then became abusive, and said he would not be a doctor for the Welsh miners for £SOOO a year. With that he told witness to leave the room. The child died in a few hours, and Mr. Richards and Mr. Robinson called on * the doctor for a certificate of death. Dr. Smith remarked: “He has passed away, then,” and after some words was alleged to have caught hold of Robinson by the shoulders and put him out into the waiting-room. While the certificate was being written, Mr. Richards had to spell the boy’s name letter by letter, but, without completing the document, Dr. Smith went into the waiting-room, where Mr. Robinson S was talking to other patients, and put [him out into the street. Dr. Inman told the Coroner he came home unknown to Dr. Smith, and found the uncompleted document on the desk. Dr. Smith said something about Dr. Cook, another medical man, and Dr. Inman assumed that Dr. Cook had been attending the patient, but that was not so. Coroner: It was some drunken delusion? Dr. Inman: Yes; he was partially drunk when I saw him, and I finished with him, paid him off, and Sent him away. The Coroner remarked there was a clear obligation in law, in the absence of some very potent reason, for the doctor to give reasonable- care and attention. IT, in the course of the performance of that duty, the doctor was guilty of negligence, it would be a very serious matter. There was no evidence here to show that'if the doctor had gone the child’s life would have been saved, but it was unfortunate that a man of that sort, who gave way to drink, should belong to an honourable profession. The jury returned a verdict that the child died from diphtheria or membranous croup, and added a rider censuring Dr. Smith.