Back from Death

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7061, 8 November 1929, Page 8

Back from Death

“DEAD” MAN REVIVED, EVIDENCE AT INQUEST.

How a man who “died M/ in the operating theatre at Westminster Hospital was brought back to life by means of heart massage, and lived for nearly eight hours afterwards, was described at a Westminster inquest on August SO. Dr. Olive Lloyd, house surgeon at the hospital, said that the man, Edward George Arnold Jones, a solicitor, was admitted into the private wards on August 20, and on the following day a malignant growth was removed from the tongue. On August 2, eight teeth were, extracted under chloroform, but toward the end of the operation, at 10.40 a.m, the pulse and respiration ceased. Artificial respiration was applied and two doses of adrenalin, injected., into the heart muscle. Oxygen was given continuously, but with no effect, so an incision was made and heart massage was performed by hand through the diaphragm.

After several minutes the heart began to beat again, but respiration did not begin for some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour after that. After it. had recommenced the, patient was 'returned to the ward,- oxygen still being given continuously, and he lived until 6.20 p.m. The breathing had become mere regular but it gradually failed.

The Coroner: How long was heart massage done from the time that the heart and respiration ceased? Dr. Lloyd: Between ten and fifteen minutes.

So the man was practically dead?— Fes.

Dr. H. B. Weir, pathologist, sain that death was due. to syncope and shock during chloroform anaesthesia. ; In recording a verdict of. death-by misadventure, Mr.'Cddie said:: ''This is one of those remarkable cases where a patient under an anaesthetic has to all intents and • purposes died, yet is brought back from, death to life. It shows the value of. heart massage, which is now done by most' surgeons when an anaesthetic produces failure of the respiration and heart. I daresay some cases do recover altogether, but I naturally, do not hear of them. I am quite satisfied that the anaesthetic was a suitable one, and that the operation was npcessary and properly performed. ”