Page 7 Advertisements Column 7

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16601, 26 January 1916, Page 7

THE RESUSCITATION OF THE APPARENTLY DROWNED. Sir,—Will you allow me, in view of the ■ recent sad fatality at Broad Bay, to make a suggestion as to what is best to be done in cases of supposed drowning. On thi9 occasion, as in so many others, it seems reasonable to assume that if a certain thing had been done at the earliest possible moment a valuable life might have been : saved. I say might have been saved, not i. ■would have been saved. In all- ca3cs of im-. , . mersion in the water, with apparent unconsciousness, the inert body should bo at ■>. once inverted—head hung down, heels up r • in the air—for preference and speed, throw the flexed legs over your shoulders and : , let the body hang down. In this way the ~ mouth opens, the arms fall back, the chest is expanded, the glottis is opened, the tongue falls forward, and the lungs empty themselves of water, and if the heart is still beating, as it often is long after respiration has stopped, the head soon be- .. comes congested, and, for a reason which,: it is not necessary to detail here, an iii- • . voluntary inspiratory effort is made by oha patient, and with care and perseverance s recovery frequently follows. I wish to em- ; phasiso this point—it is perfectly safe and ; : perfectly simple, and can bo done by anyone not a "first aid" person. It is the height of folly to attempt artificial respira- , tion by arm and chest movements before ■' ; emptying the lungs, trachea, aad mouth of water, and the evidence in this caee seems to me to show that this had not been sue- , cessfully done. Not many years ago another.; valuable life was lost in the harbour, ap- , parently for the same reason, for though the man had only been ip the water for a few moments efforts to restore life were useless. An observer, who knew no better, mark you, told me that he watched arm v and chest movements being carried out for a considerable time before the body waa f turned over, and when efforts were aban-. doned and the body moved a largo quantity of water ran out of the moutn. Some vears ago I was called to a case of, drown-, ing in one of our city baths, and on arrival found several men actively engaged in the w usual arm and chest movements. Printed ; directions as to life-eaving were on the wall. I immediately inverted the body, when •;;? quarte of water and stomach contents poured from the mouth, but the man wm ! dead. In all cases invert the patient. This I can do no harm, and my experience in ■■■■:?] resuscitating asphyxiated infants has led || me to the opinion that a number of the \j persons who are apparently drowned would 1 be more speedily resusciated if immediate ; inversion were performed. Once a good, uasp has started, thoracic movements can., bo carried out, the patient laid down, and matters will speedily right themselves. . I am not criticising tho good work that was no doubt attempted on this distressing i occasion, but I wish to make known what ■'■■•n is not generally understood as a safe, J proper, simple, but most valuablo procedure in all cases.—l am, etc., i Dnned/n, January 24. Hippocbatbs. — In Kent the authorities have adopted a' regulation making it incumbent upon people to have head lights on perambulators. Tho polioo consider that anything from a bicycle to a traction engine is a "vehicle."