ANAESTHESIA SERVICE

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1946, Page 4

ANAESTHESIA SERVICE

AUCKLAND HOSPITAL BOARD’S DECISIONS CLAIM FOR £4,000 DAMAGES " (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Oct. 15. Following an inquiry into the death of a child aged 20 months in the Greenlane Hospital, after an anaesthetic, the Auckland Hospital Board has adopted recommendations aimed at improving the general knowledge of anaesthesia and the development of the anaesthesia service in the board’s institutions. The board has decided that all resident medical officers shall undertake a course in modern anaesthesia under the director of anaesthesia at the Auckland Hospital, Dr. G. Anson, and that the nursing staff shall have a course in post-anaesthetic treatment included in their curriculum. The board also decided that no general anaesthetic shall be given to a patient within four hours of a meal, unless special circumstances necessitate this risk, and that no patient shall be left unattended for a moment after an anaesthetic until he becomes conscious and is .in possession of his reflexes. 1 A claim for £4OOO general damages and £32 funeral expenses has been made against the Auckland Hospital Board by the Public Trustee on behalf of the widow and child of Lieutenant George Victor Sandilands, who died in the Auckland Hospital during an operation. A letter from the solicitors to the board stated that their clients contended that death was due to negligence, in particular by the use of adrenalin in conjunction with a chloroform-ether mixture used to induce anaesthesia. The letter has been referred to the board’s indemnifiers.