A SUSPICIOUS DEATH.

NZ Truth, Issue 117, 14 September 1907, Page 4

A SUSPICIOUS DEATH.

DARK DEEDS AT THE' WELL-

INGTON HOSPITAL.

The Horrors of the Operating

Table.

The temporary immunity from rows enjoyed by Wellington Hospital is no doubt due to the urbanity and courtesy of the Chief Surgeon. Where a public institution is staffed by an honorary medical crowd, who are always wrangling amongst themselves, the absence ;of turbulence >n Wellington Hospital is a matter for surprise. Although it may be good for the doctors, It is horribly bad for that section of the public that' classes itself collectively as a patient m the hospital. While ithe doctors agree the patient may or may not ,s:et fair treatment. If they disagree, tho' 'public" hears of/the, death of sdme poor devil, who might possibly have bosn alive had some incompetent medico administered the right treatment. So that it is riot altogether reassuring to hear that there is an absence of rows' m the Wellington. Hospital medical dovecot. This paper's remarks on the above subject are prompted by information which it has m its possession of a conspiracy of silence concerning ' the death of a girl, who had been admitted to th' 2 institution. This youngi woman has been housemaid' with a lady m the city, and left her employment. Two weeks' after do ins so. she was taken ill ill her lodgings, and gained admission to the . hospital after considerable trouble ! The lady, whose service she used to be m visited her and found "hsv fairly' • cheerful on the first visit, • and she so informed a sister-in-law of ' the girl, who lives m- town/ The sister-in-law also paid a visit to the hospital, when the girl ■ • APPEARED TO BE QUITE HAPPY. ' ' Subseouemtly *the lady friend visited ihe hospital periodically, and found the girl m remarkably varying degrees of cheerfulness and extreme depression. The girl was obviously e?etting weaker, too, and the lady visitor was puzzkd. It was then, she learned that an operation' had been performed, and she mentioned to the staff that notification of any operation should be sent to the near relatives of the patient. The lady visitor continued to arrive a fc the hospital at different periods, and she found the -girl sometimes "m unnaturally high spirits, although she * was obviously dying. . Finally, on the occasion of one visit, : the girl said she did not expect to live lone:, ahdi asked that her mother should be sent for. When applied to,' by the way, the medical staff 'affected .to believe that the girl was not m a parlous condition, and gave the impression to her friends, that her" case was not serious. When, therefore, the gfrl asked to see her mother before she died, it created! surprise m the mind of the 1 lady .visitor, who later saw the sisler-in-kw of the girl. Both insisted upon .. seeing two ... doctors at the hospital, before sending for the mother, who- lives'' in. 'the Smith Island. The doctors save a discreetly uncompromising ■ answer , which ' left the . two -ladies m doubt about the actual gravity of '; the girl's condition. She was, however, so obviously m a Estate of collapse that they decided to send, for the mother. The girl lived on, but the mother noticed what had been observed by the two previously-men'tiori'Eid persons, that the girl appeared to be produced specially for public- inspection under THE INFLUENCE OF A DRUG. She lingered on, and the doctors were again consulted. They advised that the mother should' not- be put to t'he expense of being detained m Wellington on- account of her daughter, who was doing rifht enough. Accordinglyi, the mother went South. Then the girl died, although a day or two previously (no doubt under the •, influence of an f.-naesthetie), she satisfied . her friends that she was worth .several hundred dead women. JAt their request th* body was given over to the dead garb's friendsi, who learned from the hospital/ doctors that the cause of death was abscess of the stomach.' .They knew that one oDeraticn had been. performed, but \\h;n Lhey received the .body, they found that the whole of the front portion was swathed m bandages. It was possibly not suspected by the hospital authorities that they would remove these, but they did so, and found the body of the unfortunate girl scored with the marks of many operations. Of these operations the girl's friends were' kept m ignorance, and it is surely right that 'at- least relatives should lit 1 informed when an operation, which mifrlit result m death, is about to take place. The girl's friends accuse the hospital staff of" criminal neglect to make th's notification, and fpcl assured m their own minds 'that whenever 1 lie girl hadi | visitors ;h? was dru^w! uu fo conceal th? ;\wful c'lTe.clr; or In operations. In Hi'C time ivu-nlionul. when [operations for appendicitis became a

craze amongst the medical fraternity m this colony, and caused life-long injury to many people, who, at the time of their indisposition, were merely suffering from belly-ache, it was quite easy for a girl to be torn about to satisfy the inexperience of AN HONORARY MEDICAL STAFF. Probably many girls have died uar heard of m Wellington Hospital mereiy because they have had no friends, and this case, which is supported by authentic evidence, has been supplied to ''Truth" for publication.