SENT FOR TRIAL

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1930, Page 6

SENT FOR TRIAL

MANSLAUGHTER • ALLEGED

SALAM AN SAYS “NOT GUILTY”

BAIL IN ORIGINAL AMOUNTS

INQUIRY FINDING SATURDAY

MFDTCATj EVIDENCE .GIVEN

Upon, pleading not guilty. Abraham iWafoy Mahomed Salaman was yesterday 1 committed for trial at the next sessions of The Supreme Court at New Plymouth ’ouaCharge of the manslaughter of a boyaged t>i years., " The charge, as amended on the first dag 'of hearing, is. as follows;— .

-, That between July 30-and August ' 2, 1930, at New Plymouth, he did in. attending tpi and prescribing for jocatLyall Jordon Cnristie fail to U use competent skill, and by improper , medical - treatment unlawfully acpalerate'Jh6 death of Christie, there- , hy committing Jhe crime of : man-. * slaughter, ■ . / .

' . {Th* verdict from. the inquest,: which conducted simultaneously withtho ‘fiwer ■ court proceedings, will bq deliyon Saturday morning; jn his capaqity of coroner Mr. R» W»' Tate, b.M., paid ’ha would go through. the evidence before "announcing his decision.; _ iSaJaman . was readmitted to bail in jjfoe same amount as previously— a,- persurety of .£5OO and .two others of h 250 each. On the summary charges ha Twas remanded te appear on 'Octooer 24) pjui given bfil in Ms own recognisance ' yjf ■ X2a(L 1 ‘ ■ ■ 'Technical evidence concerning the cause, symptoms and treatment of diabetes was given by two doctors yesterday, ".their statements and a .cross- exam- ' nation, by. Mr. A. A. Bennett occupying the major part-of the sitting.- • <-. “X" don’t propose to- adduce: any evidence here,’- said counsel at the conclusion of the case for- the police. ■ Regarding bail on the indictable charge Mr. Bennett said he understood the . - original bondsmen were again available. He asked tee magistrate whether, he ’ wished' i£a' renewal of the undertaking that pending his trial Salaman would not attend any fresh sufferers,-though foh'a." -might continue with already under his care. ■; . ■ ' ‘That rests" on your personal underjMring,” said Mr. Tate. Mr. Bennett said he had already suggested to .the - court that -.-under -; taking was not necessary andteould not ha-fo been asked for. ' *Do you ;.wish to foe relieved iof your .undertaking?” asked the. magistrate. “I should prefer; Jo be relieved’of ft,” {said. counsel. " ■ well,' you are: relieved,” said Me. Tate.' ~ 75 At jhe request of: Mr- C. H.' Weston, representing thepolice, • the magistrate, while- ha said he had' not' power absolutely to prohibit publication, expressed a wish that the Press- would not- report ■i ithe names of witnesses;giving .evidence q£ alleged system. - • The first witness ’ said • his: ■ daughter, ’ Sged J 4 years, had suffered'‘fropi. dia- • ibates since the .age of -nine. Before; ! Christmas,' 1928, she had been- receiving insulin through the New Plymouth iipsjhtaJ. aud at home. . At this stage Mr. ,A. A, Bennett said this evidence concerned tfod .question of alleged system! Me maintained it was irrelevant ■in this court; Ho thought, ’ jtqweveii” the best ' thing would be for it to gq an, with counsel’s objection •jnoted. r ' Mr. R, W. Tate, SM., agreed to this .joouraa. "7 7~ GIRL \WITH DIABETES,'' ; ’.;The witness-,said he took the, girl to ■ Salaman in February, 1929. Salaman told him. to bring the girl round. His wife and he took her the following afternoon. I Salaman exam in e d her chest, throat, and back with a stethoscope. Although witness had said the girl was in a serious, condition, Salaman said this wasnot/a serious case. He said she had.a tendency to dropsy and that he would have her at school again in three weeks. ’’ Naturally the parents were very pleased. Salaman told them to stop the insulin and to change ,the. diet.-. A.t Silaman’s request the mother took- the girl to . him before breakfast the following morning. On that occasion some medicine was supplied. ■ The new 'diet was the opposite to that prescribed by teedoctor. The - girl took the medicine :cn the Thursday but-was too ill; on the-Fri-day take it. She was very bad at iuncfo time, but the parental decided to continue the treatment, till 5-p.m. ' - Witness then went to- Salaman' and iasked him to come and see the child, who was very ill. Salaman said he i could not possibly go till 9,30 p.m. Witness asked him if he should give the girl some insulin. : , Salaman.-seemed to hesitate and said he ' would- -look up • a book about it.- The'impression gained was that Salaman did not know much about jnsulin or the case. " • ' Oh his return home witness saw the girl could not wait till 9.30. He returned to Salaman and told him ha would take her to the hospital. The girl was taken ■back/.to hospital in ' a ■ state 'of coma. /There the staff , worked on her all'night; he understood she received hourly injections. She was critically ill; “it was jtcuch and go,” He first went to see Salaman on a Tuesday. He took the girl there on the Wednesday and started the treatment on ' the Thursday. The last-injection of 7 insulin was given on. tha- Wednesday ' morning and the child was taken to the ■ hospital on the Friday evening... Ou the Wednesday morning the child- had been yery well. No questions wire asked -by Mr. Ben- , jrwtt. To Mr. Weston: He had never orevipusly stopped the insulin. • ■” J Ths mother of the girl gave tive evidence. ' ■ *' A FARMER SUFFERER. .'

A- sheepfamer from South Taranaki said that up to June 10 he was receiving insulin treatment far diabetes. On that date he visited Salaman, who ordered him medicine, pills and two plasters. He paid Salaman £1 -13 g 6d, He did not' tell Salaman on the first visit that he was having insulin treatment, but said he had diabetes. Salaman placed an instrument on both sides of bis neck and told him hs had kidney trouble. Salaman did not do anything else. Witness gave up the insulin on arriving at his home because he did opt want two treatments at once. He took the medicine and pills and returned to Salaman' a month later. He then told Salaman he had to take insulin. Salaman eaid he would not Have treated him had he known. Witness said he had not taken insulin for 14 days prior to bis first visit and Salaman said that would be all right. “Did he say what insulin was?” asked Mr. Weston.

”H© said’ it was a drug,” replied this

He S 3 id he obtained more medicine, pills and plaster from Salaman. Salsman said one kidney was all right and the other was getting all right. He said this after'again placing the instrument on witness’ neck.' He had not taken a urine test. or otherwise examined him.

About August 4 witness paid a third visit to Salaman and told him he was “not doing any good.” Salaman gave him. more medicine and pills, for which he paid 22s fid, foe thought. “Do you think you were going back in health or were just stationary;” “1 don’t think I was doing any good at all.” ’ ' . >

“You don’t think you were getting worse?”",

“I think I ,was, going back.” “And now , you are taking insulin again?” —' “Yes.”'

Counsel produced a. book taken from Salaman’s house. In this witness, identified his signature written at Salaman's request. Salaman, he said, had identified his medicine by the number “F 192. Although the medicine was changed during the treatment. Salaman never changed the number.

To Mr. Weston; He received a diet list; from Salaman. He was to’.d not to eac fish of iiny kind, bacon or ham, tinned meat, corned meat, cabbage, pumpkin,-marrow or kumeras; no jam, pastry, nectarines, baiianas, cherries, peaches, grapes, apricots or plums, He was to 'take no more than two cups of tea a day and no spirits of any kind. This was very similar to the doctor’s diet list as far as the meat and vegetables'were concerned. The doctor, however,had allowed him practically hone. For a long time he had been allowed no sweet’s'unless the insulin upset him. . EVIDENCE BY DOCTOR, Dr. Steuart Church related that on AUgugt 2 he was called to Mrs. Armistead’s boardinghouse in Gill. Street. The boy Christie had just died. He was present at th® P mortem by Dr. Tay-, lor. The boy’s body was' in good physical condition.' The body was very dry. and -the eyes sunken as one would expect in: diabetic coma. For a child of tlj, he was well up to normal size and weight. ‘ ', ' • , -. ' At the house Mrs. Christie asked him if he took the. urine and tested it could he -.give : a . death certificate. • He eaid “No.”' The, police took charge of the sample qf'tjie urine. There was no urine in the bladder at the post mortem. ! body would' be dry and the eyes sunken, because m diabetes ' the surplus sugar/in the blood was excreted from the kidneys.it must s be excluded in solutiqn and* the water was Withdrawn from the tissues in order to dissolve the sugar. That was why the two main symptoms of diabetes were thirst and the passage of large quantities of urine. That explained why in the treatment of coma .it was essential to give'fluid in every? possible way. If the' patient could; not swallow, fluid was given rectorally, under the skin and into the veins. /Insulin , v?hs.- pf first importance in; itrehtipg ’cbma, but in some cases insulin alone would not cure because fluid had not been supplied in sufficient quafititiefi.-''-';'''.-'-; ':' The fact, as described . by the sister, that/the boy had been lying on ,1116 Friday afternoon with' his eyes halfclosed and '-was restless and thirsty suggested.'/’.’symptoms of oncoming coma.' Under those conditions the first thing to ;do. whs ’to • estimate the amount of sugar in tie-blood and then give sufficient? insulin and gluc'ose to bring the ehSd ■ round,keeping a check on the amdUnt/of sugar by blood tests. It would riot- be sufficient to estimate the amount qf sugar in'tlie urine. He would say the boy had been in acondition of very grave emergency on the Saturday morning. It was a case for an immense dose of insulin. The doctor then gave a technical explanation of sugar diabetes and the effect of certain foods- on - a sufferer. Prior to the discovery of insulin, ?he said; the outlook for :a';chilji with' diabetes was looked upon as hopeless, ' but now the authorities held that no child should die of diabetic coma!'.' - -

, In reply to Mr. Weston the doctor said, insertin' 'was ' discovered in Toronto in 1921.1 Itp use had gradually spread ana iri'haff been in general use for at least five years, Insulin? -was the name of an-, extract; from certain parts of the pancreas.. It was a glandular extract and. not a drug. Before the discovery of insulin' the death-rate among' diabetic children' -was 100’ per cent.; since the discovery of insulin the death-rate was 1 per ,cent. - The' doctor quoted JHimerous medical authorities, ©ri tne points. *TS THERE ANY OTHER CURE?” “Is there any other cure for diabetes in'young’children than insulin?” asked Mr. Weston.

‘N'o>- '.there is no cure at any age,” said the, doctor. “Insulin is not a cure.”

He said that, -various remedies had been tried but nothing had yet been found to cure. Nothing had yet been discovered on a par with insulin. The medical profession had adopted insulin, but ’foiipdreds ,qf peojlie thr-?;Ughi'’jt.‘ the world were working on the discovery of something else—that could be given by mouth instead of by injection. ' 'J. Inguliji relieved,' diabetes by pro riding a substitute for-tissue, but inasmuch as it could; note cause' the growth of tissue and must Le repeated daily it was not a truefoeijre.? .Food was not a; euro for starvation, but merely a temporary relief;- sofwas insulin to diabetes.' Upon the' '-withdrawal of-, insulin diabetes returned at once. ’, ' In adults diabetes was a different proposition from diabetes in a child. In the child it' ran a rapid course and, untreated, caused death in a short time. Generally speaking 'the older a petson was the mdx;e;'leisured, was the 'course ? taken. There- -weje ; a number of riiiddle-agcd. persops'who'got along'very well without insulin... There were cases of psuedodiabetes- In certain persons sugar'appeared in-.the urine when it was with-in-the mqrmal. limits of the blood. Those per,sons what was known as renal glycosuria. It, was easy for these people toftfink "they;''were diabetic. The only way to .distinguish their trouble- was by a series of blood-sugar estimations. They could not be cured, but would come to no harm. ' ..

“Woujd a stethascopic examination of the. neck foe an aid to the diagnosis ot diabetes ?” asked, counsel.

“Not a? far: as I know,” said the doctor,. “I cannot conceive of such a diagnosis. Th e: stethoscope is an instru-ment-of hearing and I know of no way in • which, diabetes or kidney trouble could be discovered by a stethoscope at the neck;” . . He said.that the withdrawal of insulin from the diabetic child would cause coma and afterwards death, as surely as if he had. been given 4 dose of morphia. In his opinion Lyall Christie died from diabetic coma; and, from what he had been told,- the coma was caused by the with-drawal-.of. insulin. Apart from dehydration the general condition of Lne body was • such that had the insulin treatment been continued the child would have been normally healthy and happy now,, Apart-from a regulation of the diet the boy would have lived on as a normal child. The doctor showed the court illustrations of a diabetic child doing a handspring. Insulin, he said, had to be given hypodermically and some people found it irksome. For that reason efforts wore being made to find a form of insulin to be taken by the mouth. The doctor showed a picture of a child aged eight who gave, itself insulin. There was no reason why a child after 12 years of age should not give itself insulin