Hospital Troubles.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 5006, 14 May 1889, Page 2

Hospital Troubles.

(By Telegraph.)

INVERCARGILL, May 13.

A letter from the Rev. Hugh Kelly was read at a meeting of the Southland Hospital Trust to-nieht in which he complained that the ward in which lay the late Mr Douglas, station master, was broken into by a tradesman engaged in ventilating the buildings, and that the windows wore thrown open to give exit for plaster dust; that the patient had been going on favourably till that day ; that next day pneumonia set in and Douglas died about a week after. Mr Kelly said that he did not write in a vindictive spirit, but suggested that an enquiry should be made lo ascertain who was to blame for the work being done while the patient was in a critical state. The house surgeon in reporting to the trustees admitted that the work had been carried on against his wishes, and without his knowledge owing to the house steward being ill that morning. Douglas did not die from pneumonia contracted through exposure, but from the septic form of the disease which was complicated with the severe operation be had undergone. Affidavits from the bricklayer denied that the windows were opened for the purpose alleged. They wore only open for a few minutes to enable him to communicate with a workman outside. The trustees resolved to hold a special meeting to consider the correspondence and take evidence. The matter has been the subject of a great deal of obscure press correspondence.