DEATH IN HOSPITAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26095, 7 March 1946, Page 6

DEATH IN HOSPITAL

PATIENT’S BED ON FIRE CIGARETTE THOUGHT TO BE CAUSE (P.A.) AUCKLAND, Mar. 6. An elderly patient in the Auckland Hospital died early this morning from extensive burns received when his bed in a hospital caught fire about midnight on Tuesday. He was Richard Maney, aged 80, retired, of Pitt street. The deceased was admitted to the Auckland Hospital on January 18 suffering from a broken leg received when he fell at his home. After being in one of the main wards he was shifted to a single room in a ward on the ground floor. It is understood that an attendant is stationed in the ward at nights to supervise the patients. A few minutes before midnight on Tuesday a nursing sister was walking to the ward when she saw smoke issuing from a ventilator in the outer wall of the building. She rushed inside and found Maney’s bed ablaze and the patient lying unconscious on the bed. The fire was got under control by members of the hospital staff within a few minutes, and Maney was given medical attention. The bedclothes and mattress were destroyed, and one of the concrete walls of the room was scorched by the fire. It is thought that the victim was overcome by smoke soon after the fire began, as no cries for assistance were heard. It is understood that one of his legs was encased in plaster at the time. He received severe burns to one foot and other parts of the body, and died at 7 o’clock this morning. It is stated that all cigarettes and matches had been taken from the deceased as a usual precautionary measure but it is thought that a person who had been visiting him during the evening may have obtained cigarettes and matches for him. He was a heavy smoker, and it is considered probable that the fire started when he fell asleep while smoking in bed.