PRAISES FOR DOCTOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21248, 30 July 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

PRAISES FOR DOCTOR

"HEROIC" OPERATION MASSAGING THE HEART LAST AND ONLY CHANCE FAILS Having described tho circumstances in which ho massaged tho heart of a man who turned " a poor colour " while under an anaesthetic, a London doctor was highly praised by tho Paddington coroner, Mr. Inglcby Oddio. The doctor requested that his name should not be disclosed. The coroner inquired into the death of Mr. Stuart Keats Turner, aged 32, of Moira, Leicestershire, son of tho late Sir John Turner, of Donisthorpe, Leicestershire. Evidence was given by Mr. John Stanley Turner that ho accompanied his brother, who was to have four tcoth out, to London. Oilier teeth had been similarly extracted a week before by the same dentist. His brother had had no illness recently arid no trouble with his heart. The doctor, who explained that he had administered 50,000 anaesthetics without ono death, stated that ho held given Mr. Turner gas, oxygen and ethyl chloride simultaneously on two occasions. Mr. Turner was more nervous the second time. Ho was not an easy case. " I started the anaesthetic," stated the doctor, " and two minutes afterwards, when tho dentist was about to begin, I noticed Mr. Turner was a. poor colour, which suggested heart failure. After about ten seconds, when there was no improvement, I put him down on the

floor. He was still breathing, and I injected camphor, continued artificial respiration, and, after about ten minutes, I thought the only thing to do was to ruassage the heart, and continued for half-an-hour." The Coroner: " That was a heroic thing to do. Had you done it before?" Witness: " No. I bad seen .it done." Tho doct.or added that ho opened the abdomen and got hold of tho heart, but it did not respond, and the pulse had gone. " It is the only case I know," the doctor declared, "of the heart to fail before respiration." When the doctor said that he had administered anaesthetics in more than 50,000 cases without mishap, the coroner remarked: "That is a wonderful record. I congratulate you on the bold step you took in massaging tho heart. It was tho onlv chance, I suppose?" The Doctor: "I think so." Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the eminent pathologist, who made a post-mortem examination, stated that Mr. Turner's heart was markedly enlarged. Death was due to syncope. The Coroner: 'lt was a fine piece of work of the doctor who massaged the heart under those conditions?" Sir Bernard: " Yes, on tho floor especially?" " Yes. Not tho easiest conditions under which to work." The coroner, summing up, said that no blame could be attributed to tho anaesthetist, who was a very experienced man. Tlio doctor wisely performed artificial respiration and " finding things wore desperate, ho performed a heroic operation by opening the abdomen there and then on the floor of the surgery and proceeding to massage tho heart. "By that time," the coroner continued, " that was • tho only thing that

might have saved life. Everything else had failed, and the heart had stopped." The operation of massaging tho heart, concluded tho coroner, was generally regarded as a major operation, but without hesitation the doctor had done it. Tho coroner recorded a verdict of " Death by misadventure."