§ Mr. JOHN WARDasked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to an inquest held by the Westminster coroner on 24th April concerning the death of Ada Rose Burditt, when it was stated that the woman was thrown violently upon the floor, immediately after a serious operation, whilst being carried by hospital porters, and when the doctor performing the operation gave evidence that throwing a person on the floor immediately after an operation would do no harm; whether he has received any report from the coroner; and what action, if any, he proposes to take in the matter to prevent similar treatment of poor patients attending this institution in the future?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI am informed by the coroner that the facts are not stated correctly in the question. There was no ground for the suggestion that the patient was thrown violently on the floor; what happened was that, as she was being carried back to her ward, she rolled, with the bed-clothes, off the air bed on which she was being carried. The surgeon did not make the statement attributed to him. What he said was, "I ascertained that there were no ill results, and she did well after." The woman had, in fact, so far improved that she was sent to a convelescent home on the 22nd March, but more than two months after the accident she developed tubercular meningitis, and died from it on the 20th April. Independent medical evidence showed that the meningitis was in no way caused or accelerated by the fall. The accident, which was without precedent in the hospital, is deeply regretted by the authorities, and the question of the transport of patients in the hospital has been referred to a committee of surgeons to deal with.