A PUBLIC SCANDAL.

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 40, 22 June 1907, Page 2

A PUBLIC SCANDAL.

The Death of Miss McMillan

SUFFICIENT was disclosed during the course of the Women's Christian Temperance Union's interview with the Hon. George Fowlds to show that there was grave departmental neglect in connection with the case of the late Miss McMillan, who is said to have died of plague, and it is not surprising that the feeling throughout the whole community is one of indignation and strong condemnation. Probably the Minister was right when he said that no good purpose could be served by any further enquiry, seeing that the medical authorities concerned were all satisfied that the case was one of plague, but, nevertheless, it goes without saying that the expression of public opinion that has already taken place will prevent the recurrence of any similar scandal in the future. This, however, will be poor satisfaction to the McMillan family. No departmental vows of greater care and consideration will bring back that unfortunate girl to life. Neither will they give the family the comfort of knowing that the best was done to make the girl's dying moments easy and peaceful.

It ia to the credit of Dr Purdy that he frankly confessed that Miss McMillan died in the ambulance on her way to the Hospital, and that the going alone hastened the end. This is where, the culpability of the authorities lies. Whether Miss McMillan was suffering from plague or not, she should never have been forcibly removed from her home and placed in the ambulance without an attendant being with her. It is now on record that her sister desired to accompany her, and was refused permission, a proceeding that was as callous and unfeeling to the living as to the dead. There appear to have been plenty of officials to order the girl to the Hospital and to see that she was taken there. Why was there not one, even in the capacity of nurse, to accompany her ? And, failing either an official or nurse, why was the sister not allowed to proceed on this last errand of love and mercy ?

It is idle to blame either the ambulance system or the driver. The girl was better in her own home than in the*mbulance, and the authorities are highly culpable for sending the vehicle without a female attendant, and equally culpable for making it possible for the elder Miss McMillan to be refused the right to accompany her sister. It is all very well to confess that there has been a blunder, and to give an assurance that such a thing will not occur again, but the sense of propriety or humanity of the whole community has been shocked by these high-handed, thoughtless and callous proceedings of the Health Department. There is a strong feeling of sympathy with the McMillan family, but, above and beyond this, there is an intense conviction in the public mind that the circumstances surrounding their bereavement fell little short of a wanton ontrage.

We do not, for our own part, question the consensus of medical opinion that this death and that of Miss Kitchen were due to plague. The public, however, are not satisfied on this point, and the evidence taken at the inquest on the latter patient was, on some points, certainly not conclusive. Dr de Clive Lowe, for example, told the foreman of the jury that the disease was exactly the same as at Sydney, in the East, and throughout the whole Orient. How did Dr de Clive Lowe know? Being re-called by Mr Basley, he admitted that he bad had no previous experience of plague cases. Dr .Purdy certainly had had previous experience. He had been present at 110 post mortems in one week. Seeing that each post mortem occupies several hours, the figures given called for some further enquiry.

However, as we have said, we are not prepared to question the medical opinion that these were cases of true plague. What we do maintain, and that strongly, is that if occasion ever requires that another young girl should be torn away from her home and sent to the Hospital for treatment, care should be taken that she should not be sent thither alone and unattended, with no one beside her to soothe her last moments and close her eyes in death. Such a provision is nothing more than the dictates of our common humanity demand. Miss McMillan may have been afflicted with plague, but having due regard to the disclosures already made, we are convinced that she did not die from plague, and that every chance of recovery in her case was sacrificed through the treatment she was subjected to.