Morning journal and courier., 1886-03-02
A FATAL RESULT.

Death of Matthew Bush, the Colored
 JanitOr, Late Last Night = Br.
 Thompsenss Statement-A Post.Mor-
 tenn.
 Matthew Bush, the colored janitor of the
 Whittemore block, died last night at his home, No. IF Whalley avenue, at a quarter
 past il o'clock. His age was twenty-four
 He submitted to a surgical operation last
 Friday in Whittemore block. Dr. E. L. R.
 Thompson operated upon him and two young
 men from Dr. Nettleton, the dentists, of
 fee, administered laughing gas. He received
 an overdose of the gas and became uncon-
 scious, and was in the evening removed to
 his home. Dr. Elliott of Orange street has
 attended the unfortunate young man, but
 every effort was unavailing. The young
 men, Julius Mayer and William Mcbride, who administered the gas, claim that they
 performed the work under Dr. Thompson's supervision and that the negligence was not their fault. Dr. Thompson was interviewed last night and said in his defense as follows ssThe effects of the various anesthetics diff fer greatly Chloroform and ether kill ina mediateIy by driving the blood from the brain, while nitrous oxide or laughing gas acts more slowly by preventing aeration Of the blood. The two assistants of Dr. Nettle- ton who administered the gas to Bush made certain statements in Sundays Register which should like to correct. In the first place, I went into Dr. Nettleton's office, and telling him 1 had an operation to perform, asked him if he would administer the an@s- thetic. He at first replied that he would but afterward said that he was too busy, but that his assistant would do it for me. I asked him if the assistant understood how to do it. He said q give his own words), "Julius can do it as well as I ean." Relying on this I al lowed Mcbride to give the gas. Now the fact is that physician when performing an operation, if he does not himself give the anmsthetic, pays no attention to the condi-
 tion of the patient. It is the business of
 he has enough. Laughing gas
 should be administered at intervals, first allowing the patient to become partially
 unconscious and then letting him breathe at l mospheric air for short time, then again applying the gas. The assistants did not do this and l paid no attention to What they l were doing. I have personally in my hospi- tai practice and in this city administered an 1 aesthetics probably fifteen hundred times and 1 never had a case from which any trouble has arisen"
 Dr. Elliott said last evening that at o'clock yesterday afternoon, when he saw Bush, his l pulse was 162 and that he was sinking rapid 1 ly and was aware that he could not last long, and was surprised that he did not die be- | fore. Dr. Elliott could not say that the man | died from the effects of the gas, but says l that if Bush had not taken the gas he would
 have been as well to-day as ever.
 Some of the city doctors stated yesterday
 that an overdose of laughing gas would kill, if | it killed at all, soon after it had been taken. | Others thought it might produce fatal re-
 suits hours and days after being taken. | A post-mortem examination will probably
 be held, as it is very mysterious death, end may be malpractice.