A CHILD'S DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12930, 28 July 1905, Page 7

A CHILD'S DEATH.

Refused admittance to THE hospital.

THE JURY'S RIDER.

An inquest into the circumstances surroundI L w l ° f an iAMt uamed Edward Law mice Waters was conducted by the HotTV ' " (lresliani ) at Freeman's Hotel, Freeman's Bay, yesterday morning, lie first witness was -Albert Edward. \Ulm a resident of Napier-street, who «aid that he was the father of the child, Jb.ch wa, only 20 days-old when it died. cnie . ays, after it was born the child conWif?ti s °.ne .tat ' trouble, and, as his com ~' s f ' in 8 .unwell from some- chest, Lompiamt, he called in Dr. Frost. That child"S-V m M lhat time did Id vhich was being fed by the mother, ail XT 6 ?/ 0 IViJ " ilo an niedical assistblood TV* T ay ' i,s J,is wife began to spit blood' Dr. ost ordered her removal to bou °S al ; P"Saturd a j V the 22nd, at Son win :H? Wlfe and child were fima i aiwry 111 t.he ambulance. At that ws tliV'li 6 V IP* 11,6 c,lild ' in* to his "P »"•. Witt, he retonia foil lb i home later 011 111 tlle same da V he .found that le infant had been refused adeonM. , tlle i pit ' :l) tllat the child had Si taken back , to his residence, . and left there m charge ° his eleven "year-old daugliJane lie theii received a . letter from Sister that dn Central Mission, recommending that during the mother's absence at the bos" pital he should give the infant to some competent nurse to take charge of. At last A. fl *Vn gl ' b ° Ul \ to take charge ot it. a /iv t? st ;? med somewhat unwell on I tfe Si ' was called in. On ie 25th child was taken to Nurse Gibson s, ..where it succumbed., . ' Nurse Gibson stated that she had known the child, since, its birth. After its birth j the mother did not seem well, but as far as ilie child was concerned there .was no anxiety whatever about it. On the Tuesday, three clays after the mother was 'taken away to the hospital, the child was admitted to her homo. _ »She. could see then that the child had been well, cared for. She did not, however, think that the child would'long (survive. That slime evening Dr. Frost was called in, ( and after directing that witness continue her treatment the doctor left. The child died next morning. As a. nurse of 20 years' standing, she was of opinion that had the, child been accepted with the mother .at , Hie hospital, and the mother had continued to suckle the child, it would have been alive now. To -5, Juryman.: Knowing the. state- of Mrs. Waters health, she was of opinion that it would 1 have been quite expedient for her to havs suckled the child, Di. Constance Frcst said that when she was called in upon the 18th inst. she found the mother suffering from a pain in the left side. She saw the child, and she "was satisfied that it was a healthy one. On the Friday, at the request of the Central Mission, she again visited Mrs. Waters, who was then spitting blood. She casually noticed the child again; it seemed well. As there was no person in the house who could properly attend to the mother, and the infant, she ordered their removal to the hospital. Continuing, D". Frost said that, before she ordered their removal to the hospital she rang up Dr. Aickiti, the resident physician, informing him that , sin? was sending the motile., to the hospital: , She also notified him that the child was accompanying her, and said that, as' the infant was only 14 days old, she hoped that they would admit thorn 'both. She specially asked the doctor to admit the, child. She told Dr. Aickin that there was no one in the lioiiso who could lock after either the mother or the child. Dr. Aikiu, in reply, said: " I do not know what the hospital rules are, but I will confer with the senior medical practitioner, and do my best towards getting it admitted. I '. She considered that the mother was merely suffering .from a. passing illness, such ,as pleurisy. It would have been expedient to have continued the child on the mother's breast. Pending the form- • ing of a diagnosis by the hospital authorities aj» to the ' condition of Mrs.' Waters,'" she considered that the mother and the child should have been admitted together at the hospital. , She saw Dr. Walsh next day, who asked her if she coiild give an order for the admission of the child. By direction of the coroner, she had performed a. postmortem examination upon the body of the deceased. This showed that death was caused by pleurisy and bronchitis. Jean Nankiville, . a visiting .sister of the Central Mission, said.that she accompanied! the mother and the child, to the hospital in the ambulance on Saturday morning. On reaching the hospital, the manager told her that ho could not take the child in. One of the doctors then came in, and said that they could 1 not admit it. He also said that-even had they been able to do so they could not have allowed the mother to feed it, as he understood there was a good deal of fever about Mrs, Waters. , v • The Coroner, addressing the jury, said that they would have no difficulty in coining to a verdict hs to the cause of _ death. He thought, however, that public. attention should: be' called to the' question as to whether there was a rule existing at the hospital (a public .institution) whereby a ' child of such tender age must be torn, away from its mother after the authorities had . been made aware that the mother's residence Was no fit pnefe for the child* Of course, they know that the hospital was not a. ntiisnig home, but the question,, was whether the authorities there should be allowed to use their discre-

The jury returned a verdict that death wis dud to .natural causeS-pleurisy and bronchitis After consideration they, attached the following rider: " That the jury are of opinion that where a medical practitioner, as in the present instance,/has urged upon the authorities at the Auckland District Hospital that a mother with all infant at the breast should together be •adnnttedto t ie hospital, it is extremely undesirable that the mother should fee admitted and the child rejected." . .. '