DEATH UNDER CHLOROFORM

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14767, 24 August 1911, Page 6

DEATH UNDER CHLOROFORM

DUE TO AN EPILEPTIC FIT.

THE LATE MR. W. D. COSSAR.

The sudden death of Mr. Walter. Dodds Cossar, of Ponsonby, while under chloroform on Tuesday afternoon, was the subject of an inquest held by the Coroner (Mr. T. Gresham) yesterday.

Dr. de Clive Lowe, who supervised the post-mortem examination, detailed certain organs which were in an unhealthy condition. Any medical man, he said, . Was quite justified in giving chloroform to the deceased as his heart, was perfectly sound. Witness said that the cause of death, in his opinion, from the disclosures of the post-mortem and from the history submitted to him by Drs. Purchas and Grant Of well-marked epileptic seizure or convulsion, was that death was due to an epileptic convulsion, causing excitability and a serious nervous strain upon the patient. This in itself would be sufficient to cause cessation of heart action. Dr. Lowe added that he did not attribute any importance to the patient having received a small quantity of chloroform, because in his opinion in the patient's already excited state an epileptic seizure would have been just as likely to have brought about a fatal termination.

Morton. Cossar, a brother of the deceased,, gave evidence of identification. He stated that the deceased was 45 years of age, and was married, but had no family. Witness had never heard of him having epileptic seizures, but he had known him to faint on two occasions.

* Dr. Purchas, who had been attending the deceased for somo time prior to his death, stated that on May 20 the deceased had an epileptic fit. Some time ago Mr. Cossar was under chloroform for two and a-quartor hours while undergoing an operation, and lie passed through the ordeal satisfactorily. Prior to going under chloroform on Tuesday he was excitable and showed convulsive movements. Witness thought that shortly after chloroform was administered the deceased had a similar seizure as witness saw on" a former occasion. This evidencewas corroborated by Dr. Grant, who administered the chloroform. He said the cause of death was an epileptic seizure. The verdict of the jury was in accordance with the medical testimony.