DENTAL THROAT PACKS INQUIRY: SEQUEL TO DEATH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22888, 7 March 1949, Page 6

DENTAL THROAT PACKS INQUIRY: SEQUEL TO DEATH

(P.A.) DUNEDIN, Mar. 5. Verdicts that neither defendant was guilty of negligence were returned by a special jury in the Supereme Court last night at the end of an action in which John Kevin Walsh claimed £2OOO from Thomas James Moynihan, dentist, and Dr. Francis Knox Rennie.

The defendants were engaged as dentist and anaesthetist respectively when the plaintiff’s 18-year-old son • died in Moynihan’s surgery or, February 27, 194 7, while under an anaesthetic for the purpose ol having his teeth extracted. A post-mortem examination disclosed that a piece of throat packing sponge was lodged in the windpipe. Counsel tor the plaintiff contended that an outmoded method of packing had been used.

The foreman of the jury said it was considered that an appropriate dental authority should investigate the ques-« tion of throat packs and should formulate a policy for the guidance of dental practitioners. Mr. Justice Hay: I shall be pleased to see that passed or, to the proper authority. The foreman said that on the question whether Moynihan was guilty of negligence the jury had found in the negative by a majority “in excess of nine to three.” There was no prospect of being unanimous on that question. The jury, he added, had been unanimous in finding that Rennie was not guilty of negligence. Judgment was entered for the defendants.