DOCTOR UPHELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22563, 6 May 1935, Page 25

DOCTOR UPHELD

A SECRET REVEALED EXHUMED WOMAN CASE OATH OF HIPPOCRATES. For the eighth and last time, coroner and jury sat at Hull to investigate the death of Mrs Adeline Dunn, aged 39, the wife of a mechanical engineer, of Thoresby street, whose body was exhumed from its grave in the Northern Cemetery/ a fortnight after burial. This is the case in which frequent reference has been made to the oath of Hippocrates and professional secrecy by doctors. Mrs Dunn's medical attendant was Dr Norman Jennings. '■ She died, in his belief, from lobar pneumonia, and he gave a certificate to that effect. Pathological examination after the -exhumation, how'ever. satisfied Dr Jennings that the cause of death was a ruptured tubal pregnancy. 'The doctor had confided to Mr Dunn, the woman's husband, that she had confessed to him her intimacy with another man. This, coupled with the fear of facing her husband, so distressed Mrs Dunn that she threatened suicide, and the doctor decided that in the circumstances he was justified in communicating the facts to the husband. In this contention he was supported by Sir "Bernard Spilsbury, who asserted that he would have done precisely the same thing and not considered; it a breach of the professional oath. On the other hand, the coroner (Dr J. Divine) remarked, in his summing up, that though the jury might consider thai the reasons given absolved the doctor, it might not have been' altogether necessary, in warning the. husband of Mis Dunn's fears of her condition and s her threat to commit suicide, to go so far as to disclose her alleged infidelity. DYING ON FLOOR. The coroner considered the, case the most extraordinary he had had to deal with. Because of the comparative rarity of tubal pregnancy, diagnosis was difficult, especially where there was no previous history'of pregnancy, and diagnosis of a rupture was more difficult, particularly when the patient was not seen at the time or immediately after the rupture, had taken place. * Mrs Dunn, after her collapse, had lain on the floor for three hours before she was found by her husband, and that would import an additional element of difficulty into diagnosis. There was no direct evidence that anything was taken or done that might be a precipitating cause of the rupture. They had medical evidence that pregnancy was at a stage when the rupture might occur naturally. Medicine given by Dr Jennings for anasmia and for the other symptoms of which Mrs Dunn complained when she called at his surgery was perfectly innocent and would not have the slightest effect on any kind of pregnancy. Referring to the confession of infidelity which Mrs Dunn was said to have made, the coroner thought the possibility of publicity weighed with her brothers in not pressing for a post-mbrtem and an inquest. That could be readily understood. ' ALLEGED POISON THREAT.

"As to the question of the oath of Hippocrates—or the doctors' oath," continued the coroner, " Dr Jennings gave an explanation of how he came to tell the husband, and his explanation is one which goes a long way—in absolving him from so apparently breaking his oath. His reason was that the woman was in a distracted, or semi-distracted condition because of the trouble she had brought upon herself, and because she felt she could not face her husband, and because it had come about in the particular way she alleged. ' « " That being so, she threatened to take poison, and after the end came Dr Jennings, to find out whether she had taken poison, inquired whether any bottles had been ' discovered. He also made inquiries to make sure whether there l?ad been any interference in the way of foul play—very good reasons for making a statement to the husband; but, although I don't say it in the way of criticism, it seems to me not altogether necessary, if Mrs Dunn made that statement to him, to reveal to the husband that she had been with another man.

" She was living with her husband in ordinary marital conditions, and her husband hud said he was willing to shoulder the responsibility if another child came. " She had behind her a history of a terrible time, 12 years ago, when her only child, a boy, was born, a time which made it fearful for her to contemplate a repetition. Was that not sufficient as a cause for Mrs Dunn to make representations that she was so terrified of this matter that she would rather cominit suicide than go through with it? _ Was there any necessity for her to introduce into the story another man, not her husband? You cannot tell; I cannot tell. . . . "But there was so much fear in her mind because of the pregnancy that it might have been sufficient to tell the husband that and nothing further. However, that is the explanation Dr Jennings gave, and he was supported by Sir Bernard Spilsbury, who told you that in the same circumstances he would have felt at liberty to do the same thing." The evidence was that on every occasion when a post-mortem examination was suggested, Dr Jennings was ready and willing for one to be made. The ascertained cause of death showed there was a mistake in diagnosis, but the jury would take into consideration the rarity of the condition and the length of time before Dr Jennings saw Mrs Dunn after the rupture had taken place. The jury found that the death resulted from a ruptured tubal pregnancy, but as they were unable to decide the cause the coroner returned an open verdict. The jury also held that Dr Jennings treated Mrs Dunn properly in the peculiar circumstances of the case.