29

H.—3lb.

K. A. UNDEBWOOD.j

away from home. She was in service in Auckland. That was for about four years. On"the 17th June of last year I came down to Auckland from Port Albert. I came for treatment for varicose veins. 1 went straight to my daughter's residence, and remained there till I returned to Port Albert, which 1 did on the Bth August. I noticed nothing wrong with my daughter's health during my stay in Auckland. I was attended by Dr. Brockway. Two days after my arrival in Auckland he performed a slight operation on one of the veins of my leg. He required me to rest and keep the leg up. I saw the wound. It was about an inch in length. It remained open about a week or ten days. Dr. Brockway would not let me get up under a month. Dr. Brockway dressed the wound first. After that I dressed it myself. At no time did my daughter touch or dress the wound. She wrung out a few hot flannels, and gave me them to put on myself. I put on the hot flannels only for about twentyfour hours —that was, just in the daytime. The hot flannels were discontinued on the second day. From that time on I did the dressing myself, except when the doctor came in, and then he did it. I returned to Port Albert on the Bth August. Later, from a communication I received, I came back to Auckland and visited my daughter at St. Helens Hospital. That was three weeks to the day after I arrived home. I found her in the isolation ward. [Mr. Mays objects to questions as to what passed between witness and her daughter. Admitted on same terms as before.] My daughter told me that when the baby was born she laid on the table until she shivered. She said she also shivered when she got into her bed. She said it was just a table with a piece of waterproof cloth and a blanket. She told me, further, that the Matron had put some stitches in her, and that after they had been in a day or two they began to throb, and the Matron took them out. She told me, too, that the doctor had not seen her for three days. She told me that when they brought her down to the isolation ward the shaking was more than she could stand. I noticed that she had a very bad smell with her, and that her stomach was very much swollen. I noticed the smell as soon as I went in. I asked my daughter if she had got her bandages off when I noticed the state of her stomach. She said, " Yes." I asked her how it was that her stomach was like that, and she said she did not know. I saw the bedclothes removed from her just slightly at certain times. I then noticed the distension of the stomach. I went to see my daughter every day for eleven days. My daughter told me she could not eat the food the way it was cooked. She said she would like to be home. My daughter also told me that when on the table she was wet up to her shoulders. She did not say how long she was allowed to lie like that. I have just heard you read the extracts from the case-book. It is quite false that my daughter dressed my leg night and morning for several weeks. It is quite untrue that she had a nasty cough, and had influenza a fortnight before admission. Apart from the usual matters connected with pregnancy, my daughter had nothing wrong with her. She was in the best of health. Examined by Mr. Mays.] My leg was bad two days before I got here. I have had varicose veins for some years. The vein had not burst before I came to town. The doctor lanced it in one place. A little pus came out when the doctor lanced it. He took it out, and no more came out afterwards. I remained in bed for the whole of the month. This entailed no extra work on my daughter. I had another child there, who waited on me. My daughter did the washing for me. She was not more run down of an evening than you would expect with a woman in her condition. She never used to grumble. She told me at the home that the Matron used to go in and not speak to her, and treat her as if she was of no consequence—both the Matron and the doctor. She did not tell me that she complained to the doctor about the stitches. She said nothing about the state of her breast or the milk. She said they had taken the baby away from her, but she did not know for why. She said nothing when I came back the second time about my going away so soon the first time. She knew that I had to get back to attend to my family. I knew she had some little urinary trouble such as most women have at that time. I never spoke to the matron or the nurses of any complaint of my daughter, nor did I call on the doctor. I never made any move in the matter till I was summoned here as a witness. To the Commissioner.] I had some lotion andjfpowder to put on my leg every two or three hours. There were no bandages till I got up. I had to cover the stuff I put on with pieces of rag. These were burnt. My daughter would not touch them. I used to wrap them up in paper, and give them to her to burn. She never handled or washed them in any way. I recognized that there was risk. I received no letter from my daughter after leaving Auckland. She went into the home shortly after I left. I got a letter from her husband telling me of the birth. The first I heard of the complaints was from my daughter herself. Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Finer afterwards told me what my daughter had told them. Adjourned to the IBth January, at 10 a.m. Saturday, 18th January, 1912. Dr. Bamford announces that he desires to withdraw from the case, and that he does so at the request of Mrs. Nicol. Leave given him to retire. Mrs. Nicol announces that she will conduct her own case, and asks for a return of cases transferred from St. Helens Hospital to the General Hospital during the last two years.] Adjourned to the 20th January, at 10 a.m. Monday, 20th January, 1913. [Mrs. Nicol hands in further complaints re Mrs. Allen. Mr. Skelton not in attendance. Agreed that evidence-in-chief be taken on these last complaints, and that cross-examination be postponed.]