DEATH UNDER AN AESTHETIC

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18121, 20 June 1922, Page 6

DEATH UNDER AN AESTHETIC

EVERY CARE TAKEN. [BY TELEGBAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] TZMaRU. Monday. An inquest, was held this evening into the death in the hospital, under an anaesthetic, in preparation for an operation, of a patient, James William Robinson, aged 40 years, a aingta man and a returned soldier, who had been wounded in the left arm. He was a cooper by trade and returned to his occupation after the war. He had not been in good health, and was attended by a doctor for pneumonia for some weeks. After a consultation ho was sent to the hospital an June 12. The patient's condition became so toxic that an operation was considered a matter of necessity and not of choice. He was quite willing to undergo tne operation. While Dr. Stringer was administering the usual anaesthetic and Dr. Gibson was preparing to pperate, the patient collapsed and artificial respiration, stimulants., and as a last resource, heart massage through the abdomen failed to restore life. The doctors recognised that this was a dangerous case for an .anaes-. thetic, but the operation was the only hope of preventing death from internal poisoning. The coroner found that death was due to the administering of an anaesthetic to the deceased who was suffering from an extremely toxic condition. The operation was undertaken of necessity, and every possible precaution was taken in administering the anaesthetic.