Auckland Hospital.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7011, 25 June 1894, Page 4

Auckland Hospital.

ALLEGED DISCOURTEOUS LANGUAGE. We published a short telegram m Thursday's issue regarding the above. We clip the following report of the enquiry from the Auckland Star : — This afternoon the Committee of the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board held a special enquiry at the Auckland District Hospital m order to investigate certain matters connected with the management of the Hospital. There were present : Messrs J. Bollard (Chairman), J. Gordon, Ambury, Bruce, McCabe, Hesketh, Lennox and Swales. Drs. Lyttle and Makgill, of the Hospital, were also present. The Secretary read the letters from Dr C. Lyttle, House Surgeon, and Dr Makgill asking an explanation of certain language used by the secretary (Mr Garland) to Dr Lyttle through the telephone recently, m reference to the allegation made re non-admission of a woman with a broken leg into the Hospital.- Dr Lyttle stated that the case of a woman with a broken leg being refused admittance was sent down from the Hospital to the office m town with a note. The note stated : " I cannot take patient m just now. I have no beds. When I have beds I will let you know." Mr Garland then asked Dr Lyttle through the telephone if he expected him (Mr Garland) to send up a bed with the patient. He (Dr. Lyttle) replied, " Don't talk rot," and Mr Garland replied, " Don't give me any impertinence." Dr. Lyttle took strong objection to that sort of language, especially as Mr Garland used it m the presence of a cabman. The cabman when he came back to the hospital told Dr Lyttle that the case was a monstrous one and made use of "impertinent" language. He took the cabman's number and reported him to his employers. He held that the cabman's language was a direct sequence of Mr Garland's remark. The Chairman : I was standing by Mr Garland at tho telephone at the time, and I expressed pretty strong language to the cabman myself ; so that if he made any , statement it was probably my statement, I not Mr Garland's. One of the porters (Wolstenholme) stated that when the cabman came back from town with the case, he said, m the presence of and to Dr. Lyttle, and m the presence of others, " The officials here have too d— d much to say altogether. He (referring to Dr. Lyttle) was told through the telephone not 20 minutes ago that he was too impertinent." The cabman swore at the doctor later on, saying, " You've got too d d much to Bay|altogether." Dr Lyttle said it was the remark by Mr Garland, "T suppose you want me to send up a bed with the patients," that provoked his retort "Rotl" He considered that Mr Garland's action tended to be subversive of discipline m the Hospital. Mr Garland stated that there was no intention whatever of offence m what he said to Dr Lyttle through the telephone. What he said was, " Dr Lyttle, couldn't I send up a bed 1" There was no anger m his tone at the time at all, and he intended no offence of any sort. He asked Dr Lyttle if he would have considered him impertinent if he (Mr Garland) had made the same reply to the doctor that the latter had made to him (Mr Garland). Dr Lyttle declined to answer the question. Mr Garland said that m the whole of this matter he considered that he himself was the aggrieved party at the hands of both the medical men. His answer to Dr Lyttle was not an angry one, and it was Dr Lyttle's reply, " Don't talk rot," that provoked him to say, "Don't be impertinent." As to the cabman, he had nothing to do with him whatever, and he considered that he had no control over what cabmen would say here, there, and everywhere. He did not know where the cabman was at the time. He did not Bay the obnoxious words to the doctor m anything but a friendly tone. He wished to know if Dr Lyttle was ao far above him m their relative positions under the Board that he could use language towards him (Mr Garland) that ho could not use to the doctor m return. His official knowledge enabled him to know that there were plenty of beds m the Hospital for the case m question. Mr Gordon asked Mr Garland a question regarding using language to "his superior officer." Mr Garland : Who is my superior officer 1 Not Dr. Lyttle. ' Several members of the Board said that the doctor was not Mr Garland's superior officor. Mr J. M. Geddes, who was present at the inquiry, stated that he wbb at the Board's office on the occasion m question, and he heard the words, " I don't want any impertinence " and " I don't like the tone of your correspondence," or words to thtkt effect, used at the telephone. He could see that the cabman was much annoyed at a woman with a broken leg being sent back from the Hospital. He should have thought that Mr Garland was speaking m a perfectly civil manner through the telephone, m fact, he would have thought the secretary was speaking to one of the nurses from his tone (laughter). TheChairman (Mr Bollard) stated that on the afternoon of Friday last, when a cabman came to the office with a woman suffering from a broken leg, who had been refused admission to the Hospital, he instructed the Secretary to ring up Dr. Lyttle and ask him why the woman had not been admitted. He told the Secretary to tell the doctor that he must admit the woman, and subsequently Mr Garland Baid m a perfectly cool manner, " Couldn't I send you up a bed." Then he heard Mr Garland say, " No, its not all rot ; it's a very serious matter," and then the Secretary told the doctor not to be impertinent. Subsequently, Jie (Mr Bollard) said : '' It's a monstrous thing that a woman with a broken leg can't be admitted to the Hospital." As far as he knew, Mr Garlaud had no conversation whatever with the I cabman. Mr Garland was speaking quite coolly.