SKILFUL OPERATION PERFORMED AT DUNEDIN HOSPITAL

Wanganui Chronicle, 22 April 1950, Page 5

SKILFUL OPERATION PERFORMED AT DUNEDIN HOSPITAL

DUNEDIN, Last Night (P.A.) -Six weeks ago a child of two inhaled the core of a gum tree nut and became seriously ill with a dire threat of broncho-pneumonia. The obstruction was removed at the Dunedin Hospital today after an operation requiring the highest degree of skill, by a local surgeon, arid the little patient is now reported to be making satisfactory progress.

This operation undoubtedly saved the child’s life, but it is only one of the many brilliant surgical feats that are frequently performed at the hospital. Reports of unusual operations requiring probably no more surgical skill than was needed to remove the nut from the child's lung are occasionally considered to be “live news” on the part of cable news agents, particularly in the United States. It is rare, indeed, for any credit Io be given, either to the local surgeon or f > the institution, for what is being done because of the unyielding attitude of the B.M.A. to such publicity, which it regards as “unethical.” In addition to the removal of the obstruction from the lung, a skin-graft-ing operation was performed on the child’s right arm, which had earlier been caught in an electric wringer. «