The Parry Case.

Otago Witness, Issue 1713, 20 September 1884, Page 22

The Parry Case.

■This'caße has excited a good deal of attention in medical circles in the Colonies and at Home. Wo have already reprinted articles from the Lancet and other paperß on the case ; and in the British Medical of July 12 we find the following article, headed "A Miscarriage of Justice " :— On April 2 Mr Lloyd Davenport Parry, a medical man practising &t Kaitangata, in INnw Zealand, was indicted on a charge of killing and slaying Sarah Ann Outhbertson on March 28. Jtlr Parry, had been summoned to attend the deceased in labour ; and, according to the evidence. of the nurss, he stated, after examining the patient, that "it was a rupture." The patient died, and, after post mortem, examination it waa deposed by tho gentleman who conducted it that death was due to becmor rhage consequent on the laceration of the vagina, and (as we gather from the newspaper reports) of the uterus also ; and that, further, this laceration could only have beon caused by external violence, and it was inferred that it waa produced by violent manipulation. Rebutting evidence was given on this latter point. Drs Macdpnald, Batchelor, Gage, and Brpwu deposed that rupture of the vagina might be produced without external violence. Such an occurrence is recognised, we believe, in all systematic works on the practice of midwifery 3Jr Robert Barnes, for instance, in his " Lectures on Obstetric Operations," published eight yenrs ago, says : " Spontaneous laceration.) uf the upper part of the vagina are often the result of extension 'of laceration of ilia lower segment of the uterus " ; and he quotes Ingleby to the effect "that l&oeration of the uperior portion of the vagina, including nearly its whole circumference, is an occurrence By no means infrequent." Tho jury wero probably influenced by the evidence, which went to nhow that Mr Parry, during his attendance oti tho patient, was in a curious drowsy state, uhidi certainly suggested that ho was haidly ia a condition to give the best attention in the wi.so The returned a verdict of " Guilty," and Uie Judge passed a sentence of four months' imprisonments T r wo days later, a mooting of the New Zealand Medical Association was held, and a feeling was very generally expressed that a miscarriage of justice had occurred. Great Btr«8B was justly laid on the evidence of tho nurse^who stated that Mr Parry had told h«r of the* existence of the rupture immediately after he made the examination. A resolution, "That, in the opinion of thia meeting, tho verdict against, Mr Parry waa not warrantod by the evidence," was moved by Dr Batcholor, geoonded by Dr Ooughtroy, aud carried, with one dissentiont. ,Dr Stenhouso moved — " That it- is the opinion of the highest obstetrical authorities that nearly all cases of utm-iuo aad vaginal rupture depend upon pathological con ditions, and have occurred in the most skilful hands." This resolution was seconded by Dr Maunsell, and carried unanimously. There Can be no question that it expresses tbo true state of the case, and that the evidenco given at the inquest by those who made fbn necropsy was, in its general application, mistaken. A third resolution— " Tiiat a petition bo forwarded to the Govemmont, pray ins: for a commutation of the sentence op Dr Pj,rry, aad that the drafting of such petition be ieft in tho hands of tho chairman " •• was moved by Dr Brown, who commented on the haste with which the trial had been pusbad on, and remarked that it savoured somewhat of the swift method of justice known in America as Lynch law ; and added that it was evident that the foreman of the jury had made up bis mind before hearing tho defence. This resolution was seconded by Dr Gillies, and carried unanimously. So far as we can judge from the newspaper reports of the case, thore seems to be good reason for believing that the Government would rectify, as far as is now possible, an injustice, by acceding to the petition of the New Zealand Medical Association.