DEATH OF PATIENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22241, 16 October 1935, Page 18

DEATH OF PATIENT

COLLAPSE IN HOSPITAL FURTHER INQUIRY REFUSED Further inquiry into tho circumstances of his son's death in hospital was asked for by Mr. G. W. Burgess in a letter which came before tho Auckland Hospital Board yesterday. Tho son, Norman Burgess, died in tho hospital on August 19, and it was alleged by the father and a brother at the inquest that they saw that his tongue was missing prior to the post-mortem examination. Deceased had been admitted for the removal of the tonsils and an obstruction in the nose. In returning a verdict that death was due to heart failure while deceased was under an anaesthetic, the coroner, Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., said it was most regrettable that unnecessary attention had been drawn to details of the postmortem examination. Why tho allegations had been made he did not know. At the opening of tho inquest no mention had been made by the father of deceased's tongue being cut out. " I am perfectly satisfied that it was at the post-mortem examination that the tongue was removed," the coroner added. There was nothing unusual or untoward in the way the examination was conducted, and the usual precautions had been taken in the administration of the anaesthetic. Tho board decided that, while regretting the unfortunate circumstances of deceased's death, it could see no good reason for reopening the inquiry. The chairman, Mr. W. Wallace, stated that the evidence at the inquest had disclosed that the tongue had been removed during the post-mortem examination.