PATIENT SUED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVIII, Issue 208, 1 August 1928, Page 9

PATIENT SUED.

ACTION BY HOSPITAL BOARD. WELLINGTON, Aug. 1.. Alleging that there had been a misadventure during an operation for appendicitis, D.avid Costley a- Harbour Board employee, defended a claim for £53 3s for hospital fees made against him by the Wellington Hospital Board. The ease was heard in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday before Mr E. Page, S.M. Mr A. Free .appeared for the board, and Costley was represented by Mr W. E. Leicester, who submitted that the amount should be reduced. Mr Leicester stated that the operation was performed in 1922, since when ono of the witnesses had died. Defendant should have been in hospital for about three weeks. It was alleged, however,, that during the operation the surgeon had punctured his bowel and set up a faec.al fistula, or chronic abscess. The result was that defendant had to remain in hospital for 117 days, and he was virtually thrown out of work for nine months. When he came out of hospital defendant had to submit to medical treatment which cost him £6O. He alleged that the former superintendent of the hospital had informed his mother (since dead) that there had been .a misadventure. Negligence, however, was not admitted hv the secretary of the hoard. In 1923, defendant told the board that he could not pay, and heard nothing of the matter until 1926. v

11l answer, to the Magistrate, Mr Free said that the board had agreed that if the instalments were paid regularly the amount would be reduced. If the defendant did not pay. added Mr Free, then the public would have to do so in the form of rates.

Mr Leicester admitted that, legally, he should establish negligence on the part of someone on the staff, but that

there seemed to have been a misadventure that fell short of actual negligence. , Mr Free informed the Court that he was instructed that faecal fistulas were not uncommon after operations for appendicitis, and 6aid that the statement that there had been a misadventure was not justified. Dr T. M. Wilson, former medical superintendent at tire hospital, said that lie operated on Costly for appendicitis and denied that there had been any misadventure. Had the bowel been punctured, defendant would probably have died within a few days. He also denied .that he had told defendant’s mother that there had been a misadventure, and added that a faecal fistula was sometimes a sequel to appendicitis operations. After listening to the evidence, Mr Pago said that he was satisfied that there had been no misadventure, and that it was clear that tho defendant w -as legally liable for the amount. The question of hardship was a matter for the board to deal with.