SWAB LEFT IN PATIENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 140, 16 June 1931, Page 9

SWAB LEFT IN PATIENT

DOCTOR LOSES AN APPEAL. Alleged negligence on the part of a doctor during an operation was mentioned in the English Court of Appeal when the doctor appealed against the verdict and judgment in an action in which damages amounting to £2lOO were awarded against him with costs. The appellant was Dr. John Dunlop of Abercarn, Monmouth. The action was brought by Mrs. E. M. L. James of Llanidloes, Montgomery, on behalf of herself and her child before Mr. Justice Branson and a special jury at Shrewsbury Assizes in February. She claimed damages respecting the death of her husband. Counsel for Dr. Dunlop, stated that one allegation of negligence was that in the course of an operation Dr. Dunlop performed on Mr. James, a swab, or pack, was left in the body of the patient, in consequence of which ho died. The jury found against the doctor with regard to the matter of the presence of the swab. Lord Justice Sktrutton remarked that the court had to consider whether the jury might reasonably come to the verdict they did. Though there were other conclusions which they might also have reasonably come to, ho came to the conclusion that the vourt could not interfere with the verdict. The appeal must be dismissed.