NURSE'S TRAGIC ERROR

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 240, 11 May 1933, Page 3

NURSE'S TRAGIC ERROR

Nurse McAdams, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Rochester, was led i shrieking from the Rochester coron- , .er's court following the recording by j the jury that an error on her part j had led to anaesthetic bottles being i wrongly filled. As the verdict was uttered Miss McAdams rose from her seat with | the words: "It is not true.' I did not j do it. What shall I do? Oh, my poor mother; Comfort my poor mother." ,!? Fellow nurses led her put, crying and waving her arms frantically. The inquest was a resumed one on Richard Boyee Jackson, aged 45, an inspector of fitters at Chatham Dockyard, of Montrose Avenue, Chatham. to whom chloroform was administered during an operation in the belief that it was ether. "I Dispute That" Dr. Bernard Wilson Roffey, senior assistant anaesthetist at the hospital, who administered the anaesthetic, said he believed that the sister in charge of the operating theatre would always instruct one special nurse to replenish the anaesthetic bottles. Mr. H. Flint (for the widow) : There is np doubt that the anaesthetist can always detect the difference between chloroform and ether. Dr. Roffey: No, 1 dispute that. Dr. C. W. Green, police surgeon, who made the post-mortem, said that the cause of death was syncope, due to the administration of an anaesthetic, consequent upon valvular disease of the heart and fatty degeneration of the heart muscles. Whatever anaesthetic had been used the man would probably have

WRONG ANAESTHETIC IN BOTTLE COURT OUTBURST

died as a result of It. i , Nurse McAdams said that on the ; morning of the operation she filled \ two bottles on the anaesthetic table, j hut, she did not touch the ether bot- ! tie. as it. was already full. ! Violet Alary Warren, Liu; sister in ! charge of the operating theatre, said , I that no special precautions were [ i taken to ensure that' anaesthetics j were put into (heir appropriate , ' bottles. | "Unless One Owns Up" r Nurse Thelma Blanche Craig said j she could give no explanation. UsuI ally it was her duty to till the bottles, but on this day the bottles were filled while she was at luncheon. Mr. if. C. Dickens (for Dr. Roffey): Unless you or Nurse McAdams owns up, both of you must, be under suspicion? —I realise "that. I The coroner, summing up, said that, I Dr. Roffey would naturally assume that in a large hospital, managed by a competent staff. a bottle marked ether would contain ether and not chloroform. The jury found that death was due to syncope, accelerated by the administration of the wrong anaesthetic, and absolved Dr. Roffey and Dr. Woodforde, the operating surgeon, from all blame. "We are of the opinion," added the jury, "that the mistake was due to an error on the part of Nurse Mc- , Adams." The jury also considered that the I sister in charge should give more dej finite instructions to her juniors with i ' regard to the preparation of the ves- ! sels containing drugs.