CONCERN OF THE BOARDS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 78, 11 March 1931, Page 4

CONCERN OF THE BOARDS

HOSPITAL DISPUTE PATIENT FROM STRATFORD STATEMENT BY DR. DORIS GORDON "This is a matter which now concerns only the two hospital boards concerned, the Taranaki and Stratford, and is not a concern of mine," said Dr. Doris Gordon, to the "Stratford Post" this morning, when referring to the discussion which took place at the meeting of the Stratford Hospital Board yesterday, with reference to the admission of a patient from here to the New Plymouth Hospital. "It is not a profitable subject for public discussion at the present time, and this business might, with benefit, have been taken in committee," she went on.

Dr. Gordon said she resented the chairman's phrase when he remarked that the case had been thrust upon the New Plymouth (Taranaki) Board. As he (the chairman) had written evidence that she (Dr. Gordon) had requested that the case be admitted merely for two or three days to enable a final diagnosis to be made. That the diagnosis had yet to be made after admission to the New Plymouth Hospital, she claimed, was evidenced by the fact that two widely divergent diagnostic opinions of the case were presented to the local board at the October and November meetings. "That the New Plymouth Board saw fit to keep the case for 60 days further supports my contention that the patient was not fit for discharge when she left the local hospital," said Dr. Gordon, "and that the board members should express any surprise that the case had been kept there for that period is strange, seeing the interest they took in the matter last November. Surely the board could have made inquiries, and, if necessary, had the patient brought back here." "What business-like farmer," she asked jokingly, "would permit his stock to be put out to graze for an indefinite period, and still be surprised when he got the account. What would any business firm naye done under the circumstances?"