PATIENT TURNED AWAY

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1931, Page 16

PATIENT TURNED AWAY

INCIDENT AT HOSPITAL. JUNIOR DOCTOR’S MISTAKE. Considerable indignation was expressed by a number of the members of the Auckland Hospital Board at a meeting on Tuesday when it was reported that a boy -who had been sent in from Pukekohe for the removal of a button which he had swallowed was sent back by a junior woman doctor of the staff without the complete treatment which the hospital should have been able to give. The parent of the boy had written complaining of the unsatisfactory treatment received by his son and in reporting on the incident to the board the house committee stated that an X-ray examination had failed to disclose the button and. the boy was sent to the throat department for further examination. The young doctor, on her own initiative, told the parents to take the boy home again and consult their own medical adviser. The following day the button was extracted by a specialist, the fees, including theatre charges, being £!2 12s. The committee stated that; it had instructed the medical superintendent to take such steps as would prevent a recurrence of a similar mistake, the opinion being stressed that junior doctors should not lightly discharge a patient without reference to the honorary member of the staff in charge. It was recommended that the out of pocket expenses of the father be paid without prejudice and that the matter of settlement be left in the hands of the chairman, Mr. W. Wallace, and Mr. G. T. Parvin. The chairman said there had been neglect on the part of someone. There was surely something radically wrong when an institution with the staff and equipment they possessed should turn a patient away and compel him to seek treatment outside. Mr. M. J. Savage said it was a question whether any junior officer should be able to turn a patient away, but if they desired to have senior officers available for such decisions it simply meant that they had to be prepared to pay for such service. _ ■ A very serious position would arise, said Mr. W. C. Wood, if juniors could make such decisions. It was reducing the status of the hospital to that of a junior officer. The boy had been sent to the hospital with a definite statement from his own doctor that he had swallowed a button, yet this inexperienced girl was in a position to send him away without treatment.' Mr. Wood protested against the lack of supervision revealed, particularly as there are four permanent senior medical officers at the hospital. Other members spoke in similar strain, Mr. E. H. Potter stating that the. board had appointed two. medical registrars for the very purpose of providing ample supervision for the junior medical officers. The recommendations of the House Committee were adopted and, on the motion of Dr. Gunson, the question of supervision was referred to the honorary staff for a report on the best means of preventing a recurrence of such incidents.