DOCTOR AND PATIENT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 963, 13 March 1917, Page 6

DOCTOR AND PATIENT.

STRANGE CASE AT LYTTELTON. DEMAND FOR £'lso FEE. In the interests of the public generally, and particularly of the people of Lyttelton, The Sun conceives it to be its duty to set out certain facts illustrative of the position in regard to medical service at Lyttelton. For i) proper understanding of the case, it is necessary to say that at the vnii of 1915 I)r J. A. Newell, of Lyttelton. resigned his position as physician and surgeon to the Lyttelton Gaol. There is reason to believe that since that time Dr Newell has had some little controversy with the Department of Justice. Some idea of the basis of the controversy may be gathered from the fact that when an emergency call, for attention upon an inmate of the prison, was made upon Dr Newell, subsequent to his resignation, he demanded a guaranteed fee of £lO 10/- for the visit. It is also noteworthy that although there is another medical man in Lytieiton, Ihe department found it necessary to appoint Dr 0. L. Nedwill, of Christehurch, to ihe position of gaol surgeon. About 11 o'clock on (he night of Tuesday last, Mr J. C. Scanlon, gaoler al Lyttelton, was taken seriously ill. During the night he became worse, and suffered great pain. About 2 a.m. Mrs Scanlon went to Dr Novell's house, which is only a short distance away from her own, and asked Dr Newell to come, as her husband was very ill. She was told to stay in the surgery while Dr Newell dressed. After the doctor came down, he told her to wait outside for a moment or two. During those few moments, apparently, Dr Newell prepared a document which afterwards formed an important feature of the affair. When Dr Newell arrived at Mr Scanlon's front door, he stood there and sent Mrs Scanlon in to her hus-i band with a document which he wanted the latter to sign. Mr Scan-' lon's bedroom is a front room, and the door of it is only a few paces from the front door of the house. From the doorstep, Dr Newell called out to Mr Scanlon that before attending the latter he wanted him to sign the document. Mr Scanlon replied, "Oh, that's all right, doctor, I'll pay your fee myself." Mr Scanlon was under the impression that Dr Newell wanted a guarantee that a fee of £lO 10/- would he paid, and lie was in •such pain that he was prepared to pay even that sum. Dr Newell replied, "You had better see the paper," or words to that effect. Then Mrs Scanlon handed the document to her husband, who saw that what he was required to sign was a promissory note for £l5O, payable on demand. It was prepared on a printed form, and was stamped. At Mr Scanlon's request, Dr Newell entered the bedroom. Holding 'up the document, Mr Scanlon said: "Doctor, this is impossible. This is beyond reason." Dr Newell replied: "That's my fee. The Government paid me by the year, and that is my fee." Mr Scanlon said it was impossible for him to sign that document or lo pay that sum, but he was quite willing to pay the £lO 10/which had been demanded before by Dr Newell for a visit to a gaol officer. Mr Scanlon added something to the effect that the doctor's altitude was not Ghristianlike. Dr Newell replied: "I can't help that." Then Dr Newell took the document from the sick man's hand, and left. When Mis Scanlon remonstrated with him, outside the house, he replied: "I don't care a damn." After Dr Newell left, Mrs Scanlon went for Dr Upham, the only other medical practitioner in Lyttelton. She found that Dr Newell had got there before her. She told Dr Upham that she desired him to come to her husband. Dr Upham partly shut the door, but the panels of the door are of clear glass, and through one of them Mrs Scanlon saw Dr Newell draw Dr Upham into an adjoining room. A few moments later Dr Up-

ham came out again and told Mrs Scanlon that he could not assist her husband, as he could not go against Dr Newell. The latter also came out, and suggested that Mrs Scanlon should get Dr Nedwill. He offered to ring up for Dr Nedwill from the police station—the only place in Lyttelton in which a telephone connected with Christchurch was available at that hour —but Mrs Scanlon, having formed opinions of Dr Newell's conduct, declined that offer, and went to the police station herself. Dr Nedwill was (hen called up from the police station, and he went from Christchurch to Lyttelton, via Governor's Bay, by motor car. A Sun representative offered Dr Newell an opportunity to state his side of the case. The doctor's reply was sharp: "You've got no right to come to ine. That's my own private business. You've got no right to interfere." The circumstances connected with the affair were officially reported to the Minister in Charge of Prisons, who communicated with the Christchurch branch of the British Medical Association. Dr Newell took up the position that the association had no right or power to require a medical man to attend any patient, and this general proposition is assented to by the association. The association, therefore, was unable to act in the matter, though the position at Lyttelton was considered regrettable.