DEATH FROM SHOCK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21879, 15 August 1934, Page 11

DEATH FROM SHOCK

EX-KING ALFONSO'S SON MOTOR MISHAP IN AUSTRIA VIENNA, August 13 Don Gonzalo, fourth son of the exKing of Spain, died to-day after an accident to a motor-car driven by his sister, Princess Beatrice, who was slightly injured. The cause of death was shock. This produced internal hemorrhage, the arrest of which was impossible, as Don Gonzalo suffered from hereditary hemophilia. Princess Beatrice was driving and .swerved to avoid a cyclist. As the result the car collided with a wall, but was hardly scratched. Don Gonzalo only complained of illness when he arrived at Poertschach, where Alfonso is staying. A doctor was summoned, and he found that an operation which might have saved Don Gonzalo's life was impossible owing to the weakness of his heart. The late Don Gonzalo was the voungest child of ex-King Alfonso. He was born on October 24, 1914. His eldest brother, Alfonso, was known to have suffered from hemophilia, but that Don Gonzalo also suffered from it had not been announced. Hemophilia is a medical term tor a condition of the blood which often occurs in families, members of which are known as " bleeders." It is characterised by a disposition toward _ bleeding, with or without the provocation of an injury to the tissue. When bleeding is spontaneous it comes generally from either the nose or the mouth. It is always from the smallest vessels that the blood escapes and it may do so in such quantities as to cause death in a few hours. Haemophilia occurs almost exclusively in males.