PATIENT'S CLAIM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23055, 4 June 1938, Page 16

PATIENT'S CLAIM

ALLEGED NEGLIGENCE HOSPITAL BOARD SUED A DOCTOR'S EVIDENCE CASE FOR DEFENCE OPENS Tho hearing of a claim for €I6OO general and £213 special damages against the Auckland Hospital Board, based on allegations of negligent and unskilful treatment was continued before Mr. Justice Callaji and a jury of 11 in the Supreme Court yesterday. The claim was brought by Mrs. Mary Margaret Barry, aged 32, of St. Heliers (Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Winter), who stated that she had been a patient of the Auckland Hospital from January 10, 1037, to October 19, 1937. Plaintiff was operated on on January 11 and April 11, and she claimed that during one of these operations a swab or other foreign body had been left in her abdomen. This was so concealed that the cause of her resulting injuries was not known to her until after an operation in a private hospital on November 27. Mr. V. R. Meredith and Mr. McCarthy, for tho Hospital Board, denied all allegations of negligence, and added the further defence that plaintiff had not commenced her action within six ! months, as required. Apparatus Inspected Before the hearing of evidence was resumed yesterday His Honor, counsel and members of the jury gathered in the vestibule of the Court, where they had explained to them the working I of an operating table and other appaj ratus that had been specially sent, i down from the Mater Misericordiao ! Hospital for inspection. Dr. J. W. Bridgina'u, continuing his evidence, said that during his operation on Mrs. Barry at the Mater Misericordiao Hospital extra assistance i had to be called because of her gravo i condition She was given an intravenous saline injection. Ho removed a thick-walled cyst about the size ot a lemon as the last part ot the operation. Oil examination he found a small , swab of gauze, about 2|in, long by j Hin. or liin. wide, loosely adhering i to the inner wall of tho cyst. ■ The appearance of part of an X-ray plate explained by witness was stated bv him to be consistent with its showing the presence of a swab. " My own view, after having handled , a swab, said witness. ''Was that it was a swab/' "Trying to Dodge Trouble" In answer to Mr. Meredith witness said he had been six years in NeW Zealand. He had been at tho Wallace and Grey River Hospitals and bad been referee for an insurance society. The bacteriologist's report did not give any evidence that Mrs. Barry ivas suffering from bacterial peritonitis. Nutse Yates was present, witness fifiidj when a threrid came out from Mrs. Barry's wound. Tho nurse said she thought it was a thread, but witness said he thought it was not. He said that as the patient already had ideas of there being a swab or piece ot rubber inside her. 'As a matter of fact I was trying to dodge ahv trouble that might occur," said witness. What happened at the Auckland Hospital wag no concern of his, and he decided to keep the thread business to himself. He did keep it to himself until Mr. Sullivan got it out of hitfl. Ho had told l)r. Gwynne that he had found "a few layers of gauzo." The swab was destroyed when his surgery was changed round in December, witness said. He could not produce it now. If he had Mr. Meredith would have been tho first to quesi tion It. Evidence ol Discussion Witness said he had said to the anaesthetist before the operation that there might be a swab present. After he found this object he discussed its being a swab with Sister Agnes and Dr. Maskell, and if they both denied that, he still said he was stating the truth, "Mother Agnes, said to me, 'lt is a swab,' and she concealed it undor the green covering," said witness. He added that the Mater operating theatre was short-staffed on this day and no explanation was given of this. He was not sure whether Dr. Maskell was in the room when lie picked the swab out of a tray on the floor. ''lt was of no importance and no significance to me at that time, as I was not expecting a civil action," said witness, wheri asked why he had destroyed the swab in December. He had avoided telling the patient that ho had found any foreign body. Mr. Meredith! Had you no duty to tell her? Witness: No, no duty to the patient. I am not bound to broadcast from tho housetops when a foreign body is found in a patient. It appeared to me that Mrs. Barry was quite content to bo made well again, as she never expected to be. Attitude to Hospitals i If he had not boon told by Dr. Mas- ! kell to hurry up witness said he would probably have examined the swab more carefully. Mr. Meredith: Do you wish to bo in charge of a hospital?— After looking round hie, no. Mr. Meredith: What do you mean by "looking round me?"—l mean not under the present system of hospital control. Asked why he had left hospitals in which ho had worked, witness said ho was tired of doing work that should have been clone by twice as many peoplo. He had had a row with a nurse at the Grey Hospital, and she claimed that ho had assaulted her. There was some trouble at Invercargill, and an allegation against him was dismissed. Mr. Sullivan asked that Mr. Meredith be confined to relevant matters. His Honor said that tho crossexamination of this most important witness so far was relevant,- except that if Mr. Meredith knew that a charge was dismissed he should not have mentioned it. Witness denied that a magistrate had referred to the Invercargill affair as a "drunken brawl." Witness Re-examined In re-examination by Mr. Sullivan witness said that two of the nurses left the operating theatre at the Mater Hospital shortly after his operation was begun. Mother Mary Agnes was not present when he returned to tho theatre to examine the swab. He considered that the treatment of the plaintiff by the responsible authorities of the Mater Hospital was most unfair. In consequence his relations with that in- 1 stitution wore not good, and lie refused to go back there. Consequently a report of his on the operation was not completed. "I have absolutely no peciminrv interest in this case, find T am here much against my will/.' sllid witness, tie said he had received a total of £64 front Mrs. Barry, and she owed him nothing. Dr. W. H. Horton said ho concluded that at tin? time the plaintiff went into the Mater Hospital she was a patient whose illness had begun with a very acute abdominal ailment. At the time he saW her he concluded she had bad a foreign body in her abdomen, and to Was strengthened in that conclusion by what he had heard in Court.

In cross-examination witness said tlmt if enterostomy had been done on the plaintiff that was one of the most difficult, worrying and arduous operations a doctor had to perform. it would indicate that tlie patient was then in a very grave condition. On the evidence ho had heard that morning he felt certain that if it was not a swab at least some foreign body was removed. Opening the defence, Mr. Meredith said it was that there never was a swab in Mrs. Barry. " We are going the whole hog," continued Mr. Meredith, " and we say that when Dr. Bridgnian says he found a swab lie is not telling the truth. There is 110 halfway house." Mr. Meredith proceeded to outline the history of Mrs. Barry's illness and treatment, first at the Auckland Hospital and later at the Mater Miserieordiae, where she went instead of returning to the Auckland Hospital. 'l'he case depended on how much reliance they were going to place 011 Dr. Bridgnian, who would bo found to bo in conflict with many reputable practitioners. Mother Mary Agnes herself went in to the operation because of the rumours about a foreign body that had been started by Dr. Bridgnian, continued Mr. Meredith, and she would give evidence for the defence. She would be supported by others present at the operation, who saw nothing of the swab. Jll adjourning the case until Tuesday His Honor said it was evident that considerable interest was being taken in it and issued a special warning to jurymen that they must allow no ono to discuss it with them during the adjournment.