OVERDOSE OF DRUG

Southland Times, Issue 25794, 4 October 1945, Page 4

OVERDOSE OF DRUG

DEATH OF PATIENT IN HOSPITAL (P.A.) AUCKLAND, October 3. Evidence that sedative tablets not prescribed at the hospital were found in the deceased’s locker, was given at an inquest into the death of Wilfred Rycroft, aged 45, a tram conductor, which was held by the Coroner (Mr A. Addison). The deceased died on April 18 at .the Auckland hospital, where he had undergone an operation. Dr A. Coombes, house surgeon at the hospital, said that some time between 3.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on April 13, the ward sister informed him that she could not rouse Rycroft from his sleep, and gave him two bottles containing tablets, which she had found in the patient’s locker. The witness knew Rycroft was in the habit of sleeping, and he was not unduly alarmed. He was extremely busy in another ward, and as soon as he could he took the tablets to the dispenser and had them examined. It was thought that one bottle contained phenobarbitone capsules and the other some kind of aspirin. He went to see the patient at 5 p.m. Una Williams, assistant dispenser at the hospital, identified the two bottles as those found in the deceased’s locker, and said they were not the sort of container issued at the hospital.

Dr Walter Gilmour said that in his opinion death was due to an overdose of one of the barbiturate drugs, other than luminal. In reply to Mr Haigh (representing the relations), he said the drug must have been something other than was contained in the bottles found in the locker. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned.