The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-04-26 00:00:00

POOLE TIDAL TABLE.
Brous Friday. April • Tbotiviim. April 1111

asssoua

1 Hose
tlalria-

LOW
114

SAL
Hos AMR nMi Loll
Warn. PLO.. MIL fro.. WATS!.
------.—•• ---..---- ---
friday, 22 ,4 244 CIS s 6 9
, ILA II II 634 346 646 646
num, 2111 412 712 620 7 ..10 10.10
No , 1511) 6 8 ii 615 515 11 16
Tula 18v• 545 848 8 9 If
V. 4, 17th 616 986 846 046 1185
Thar*, Mb 714 NM 720 10 90 1.30
Mar 22080. AMU Oa. No. Um Bun 153. manias.
Sow 4.36. sillorne2ll, Lei& a/ day 141. lima lea
,IS LA Nis 7.n.

&SS
O.M
1012

ii 44
Mal
1 Id

CORONERS' INQUESTS.
On this sublect Mr. E. P. Philoots, M.D., writes :—I
must protent in the strongest manner isnutible against
the way in which my name has been "dragged into
Print," for now nearly eleven yearn, in connection with
coroners' inquests, held in and around Poole. lam not
writing with a view of blaming, or making any hard
comments upon the Coroner for this Borough, but
rather of condemning the imperfect mystem upon which
carmen' inquests are generally held throughout the
country—a system unfair to members of my pn.fession
on the one hand, and on the other entirely opposed t.,
bringing about most of the good rerrults which we, the
public, -are led to look for from the holding of inquesta
Take the circumstances causing, pre...ling, and con-
nected With a typical inquest A child is burnt,
scalded, crushed, or dies "in a fit," Ae., &e. A medind
roan is called in (in many instances *to avoid an
Inquest"), the child dies, an inquest is held, the jury
return a verdict of " Accidental death." mild we hear no
more of the matter. The newspaper rt•pdt states that
Dr." Blank" was "called in," attended the CaSe. and the
patient sank and died " under his care." Bo far 140 good,
tint the medical man is seldom or never called upon to
Inform the jury of what the real circumstances con-
nected with the case consist of, or why his skill or
"care" failed to save the life of his• patient ; thus
twelve jurymen are called upon to decide a point with-
out bearing that skilled evidence, by which alone
they are in most cases able to arrive at a comet
verdict. This absence of medical eviden.• no donut
reduces the costs or inqiicstn, saves the jutlges much :
work, and causes many of the cells of our •zawls to be
vacant which ought not to 1., so, but, whether this is
justice to the public at biro: or to those noon whom
the inquest', are held is quite another matter. upon
which let those who read this letter form ant bold their
own opinions. I should not have troubled you uom,
this occasion had not an inquest lately been held
with which my name wa. associated in the same
unfair and disagreeably tnisleading Timmer it is
customary down hen, to ass.eiate it. The newspaper
reports A 8 to the real facts of the case in qm.stion brlng
somewhat vague and requiring eorrection. I I,eg to
supplement them. A child named Young in Longdeet
was severely burned by an overfilled benzoline hoop
"catching fire" (the principle upon which these lamps
are constructed is either grossly 111i81111,1441,4001 or
greatly disregarded in this totality). I was called in
twenty-two hours after the accident happened, only an
hour or two before the child :lied. yet *the papers 'my-
ths!, Dr. Philpots attended" the child, which" gradually
sunk and died." The facts of the case being that Dr.
Philpota was called in, not to "attend" (for the ~88e
eras beyond any "attendance"), but to Inv:, dyinEchild,
not a "gradually sinking" hut a" rapidly sinking child,
and be went as 8000 as he was sent for, that time Was I
twenty-two hours after the acci,hmt happened. The
reports of course are silent as to what Dr. Philpots
could and would have done for the child had he been
called in before the agony of twenty-two looms hail done
its fatal work, and we rend of no nquark escaping the
lips either of the coroner or the jury relative to this
point. Granted that the accidental upsetting of. a ,
benxoline lamp was the remote cause of death, it re:luau's
to be proved that the approximate cause was, air was
not, the absence of prompt medical treatment. I must
submit that there was one opinion not taken upon this
question which must have been far superior either to
that of the coroner or jurymen, and that was the opinion
of your obedient servant.