INQUEST HELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26479, 5 June 1947, Page 10

INQUEST HELD

DEATH UNDER ANAESTHETIC

SUDDEN HEART FAILURE “ I think it is only fair to comment that the operation appears to have been conducted in proper circumstances and there is no evidence of improper treatment bv anybody concerned,” said Mr J. D. Willis, S.M., who, sitting as coroner, held at the inquest yesterday into the death of Arthur Ernest Davis, aged 36, single, of 30 Wesley street, South Dunedin, who died under an anaesthetic while undergoing an operation for the extraction of his teeth at Stafford Hospital on May 7. The coroner’s verdict was death from sudden heart failure. The police were represented by Sergeant F. A. Leadley, and Mr S. C. Cook appeared for the relatives of the deceased. Jeffrey Ronald Benson, a dentist, for whom Mr I. B. Stevenson appeared, said that the deceased had entered Stafford Hospital for the extraction of his teeth. The anaeshetic had been given and everything was going satisfactorily until about half-way through the operation, when the deceased collapsed. Dr E. F. D'Ath, professor of pathology at the Otago Medical School, said he had conducted a post-mortem. He had found no obstruction of the air passages and he was of the opinion that death had been caused by sudden heart failure due to the anaesthetic. To the coroner, w* ness gave the opinion that the patient was “ a bad risk for an anaesthetic, but that a preliminary examination would riot have detected the state of the h ldr*'John Fulton said that he had administered the anaesthetic and everything was quite normal until the patient collapsed. All possible restorative measures were taken without avail. The deceased had been examined a few days befoie the operation and also lust P rl ° r to it. Witness had considered that the deceased was fit to undergo the operation, and « was his opinion that heart failure had been induced by the anaesthetic. Evidence was given by Dr Geoffrey Barnett, who had assisted in the restora ti The tie coroner found that the deceased dJd at Stafford Hospital on May 7 from sudden heart failure, while undergoing an anaesthetic for the- purpose of having teeth extracted.