BITTEN BY SNAKE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17738, 26 March 1932, Page 14

BITTEN BY SNAKE

LITTLE BOY’S DEATH

INCIDENT AT INQUEST

DOCTORS DIFFER

SYDNEY, March 11,

A dramatic scene occurred outside the court to-day when the coroner, Mr. W. E. Ivirkness, opened an inquiry into the death of Raymond George Barham, 13, of Tuggerah Lakes Entrance from the bite of a black snake on March 7.

The mother of the dead boy was standing outside the court and as a witness passed she said, sobbing wildly, “Don’t speak to me. You killed my child! The man did not reply. The mother, a neat figure in black, told the coroner between sobs that as she entered the fernery, she saw a black thing which she thought was a lag.

Her daughter screamed and as she turned she saw a snake and fell, stunning herself. While she was being treated, Raymond came in and said, “I have b'o'eta • bitten.” Airs. Barham said that the boy then ran to the house of Mr, Freeman, an ambulance officer, who scoured the wound, applied crystals and a rubber ligature. .'•* t ■■■ :< He then took the boy in a ’bus to Dr. Robinson, who said, “take that ligature'off.” Air. Freeman protested but the doctor insisted. Henry George Barham, father, gay# evidence that when Df. Robinson wfrf" told the boy had been bitten by '-Jr black snake, he said people did not die from that. The doctor said latqr, “he will be all right. Take that ligature off, he won’t die.” Dr. Arthur Robinson, practising at The Entrance, said that when he saw the boy’s leg it was very black. There was no object in leaving ligatures on. He cauterised the wound and had the ligatures removed. The condition of the boy was very good, except that he vomited once. MORTALITY LOW He was not concerned at the' moment, as mortality from black snakes was very low.

“A tight ligature should not be left on longer than half an hour,” he said. “If tightly applied and left on longer than half an hour, it might givp the patient enough shock to kill. “I am not going to allow' a patient out of my surgery with a tight ligature. If the leg were paralysed they might take an action against me.” Dr. Robinson denied that he had

said that the black -snake was not venomous. ' ' > 'A

Dr. Sydney Dwyer, of Gosford, said that when he saw the boy, the latter was very ill. He asked where the ligature was, and gathered that it bad not been on half an hour. He treated the boy, took him to hospital and saw him twice during the-night. The boy died next morning. Sergeant Lake: Should the ligature have been removed in half an hour? —No. According to Dr. Kelleway, the expert in Australia, it should be released for a minute after half an hour, then tightened for another ter of an hour, and so on for two hours.

The coroner: Has everything been done properly?—Yes, if Dr. Robinsons, was right in thinking that the turc had been on half an hour. But I would have left it on two hours.

Which is right!—l think my treatment is right. Would you say that death was hastened by the removal of the ligature!—l could not say that. Dr. Dwyer told the coroner that he would not say that any negligence or carelessness contributed to the death. Dr. Robinson may have made an error of judgment. •' To Sergeant Lake, Dr. Dwyer said he had never known of a case in which a doctor had removed a ligature in half an hour. . : , The coroner returned a verdict of death bv snake bite, adding, “that's all.”