BATTLE FOR LIFE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12442, 2 January 1935, Page 3

BATTLE FOR LIFE

. LIVING WITHOUT BREATH. A six-hours’ effort of doctors in relays trying to save the life of a man who had stopped breathing was described during an inquest last month, at Southwark, on ' Harold Paine, aged 36, of Lmbeth, states the “Daily Telegraph.”

An unusual feature lof the case was that Paine’s heart continued to beat although there was no breath in the body. One of the doctors, in evidence, said that he had never seen a similar case. Paine died in Guy’s Hospital on October 29, following an operation on his arm which had been fractured when he fell off an omnibus. Dr. Robert Joseph Drummond, house-surgeon at the hospital, said that two operations were performed, and before the second he gave Paine avertin in order to lessen the pain of moving him from the bed. The drug was freshly made, and was given according to body weight. Paine suddenly collapsed, and his heart stopped beating. Stimulants were given, and a surgeon opened the abdomen. After six or seven minutes the heart started beating again, and Paine was given injections of andrenalin straight into the heart. He was taken back to bed at four o’clock and artificial respiration was kept up in relays until 5.20, when he started breathing of his own accord, but he died four hours later. The Coroner: Is it not very unusual for the heart beats to go on for such a long time when the breathing is suspended?—Yes, very unusual indeed. I have never seen a case like it before. The doctor said he had used avertin for three years and in over 1000 cases.

The Coroner: Unfortunately from time to time mishaps do occur with this drug?—l should put it this way, “after this drug”; not necessarily on its account.

The Coroner: We have had several deaths from avertin in this court. I hare called for a record of the number of cases. The doctor said that of all the factors involved he would say that the avertin was the least important. “We had a. very shocking operation,” he added, “with the maximum of surgery shock. The question of surgical shock bulks very largely.”

The coroner said that the doctors made a magnificent effort to save the man’s life. For six hours he was hovering between life and death, and the wonderful and magnificent efforts of the doctors during that time reflected the greatest credit on everyone. He recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, in accordance with the medical evidence.