The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-15
CHARGED WITH NEGLECT.
THE SANITARY BOARD HEARS
CHARGES AGAINST DIR. JENNINGS.


Charges That the City Physician
Neglected and III Treated His
Nephew, Who Died Few Days Ago
From the Effects of a Fan From "A
WaEOn-A Large Number of the
Witnesses Called Before the Board.
/ The Members Refuse TO Discuss the
Matter-DF. Jennings Says Ii Is n
Case of Persecution.
The sanitary board met yesterday after
noon and heard charges against. DR.. W.
II. Jennings. city physician of the Third
district.
| DR.. Jennings was charged with failing
to give proper attention to his duties as
city physician, and with neglect and NAL
| treatment Of patients. The investigation
took general range, but the greater part
| Of the time was taken up with inVesuga-
ton Of the charge made by Jacob J. Lutz
| in connection with the death of his nephew
Thomas Lutz, which occurred last week.
as the result of a fall from a wagon.
Besides J. J. Lutz Mrs. Lutz the moth
er of the young man, his younger brother
| and several other relatives and friends
were present as witnesses. There were also
a number of negro witnesses, some of
whom were summoned in connection with
the Lutz matter, and others who were
summoned to testify to other cases of
neglect on the part of Dr. Jennings.
The board was in session nearly two
hours. Immediately after adjournment a
Morning News reporter saw Mayor Myers
and asked for information as to the
charges and the results. The mayor de-
clined to say anything about the matter.
The time has not come to talk about it,
! he a Ofbar no. of ta a-I ba
were seen declined to give any information
in an equally positive manner NUNS
the word" they said. 1t was stated that
the members of the board had agreed not
to discuss the matter with outsiders at
ALL
Dr. Jennings, when seen by a Morning
News reporter, said that there was moth
ing in the charges. That it was a case of
persecution in which he is the victim. In
the case OF young Lutz, Dr. Jennings
said, that the boy was brought to his Of
flee at an early hour. He was just getting
up and told the men who had the boy to
take him into the office He came down
stairs half dressed and examined the boy.
He found no bones broken and no evil
dence of fracture. The boy complained of
pain in his stomach and he gave HIM
morphine pill to alay the pain.
Il then went UP stairs TO finish dress
ing" he said. while l was up stairs ia
cob Lutz. the uncle of the boy, came, l
came to the head of the stairway and told
him to be careful in moving the boy.
Shortly before o'clock, as soon as had
finished my office work, went to the boys
home. / called again in the afternoon. The
boy complained of severe pains in his
stomach and was vomiting continually. l
called twice the next day and carried DR..
Elliott with me as the case appeared to be
| serious. He remarked that II was bad
| case but he did not see that could do any
| thing more than i had done. l found that
Mrs. Lutz had been giving her son ice wa
| ter and soda water to drink and that she
had also given him dose of castor oil to
assist his bowels l instructed her positive
ly and repeatedly not to let him have eth
er ice water or soda water ana not 10 give
| any more castor oil. Instead of that she
| disObeyed my instructions and FASTENED,
If she did not cause the boys death. Short
| ly before the boy died Fred Grewe came
to my house and woke me up. He described
the boys symptoms and told him that
| the boy was dying, and it was no use for
me to go there. His death occurred about
| an hour later. did tell Mr. LutZ when he
called at my house the day before that 1t
was a good thing II was not the younger
| brother instead of this fellow, who was
| only a drunken bum"
Mr. Lutz was seen shortly after he had
given his testimony before the board. He
seemed to feel deeply aggrieYed against
| DR.. Jennings for the manner IN which his
| nephew had been treated 1t was about
| $50 O'Clock Monday morning, Feb. B., he
| said, when Tommy was thrown from
the wagon. His brother Philip was with
! him. 1t was seen that he was badly hurt,
and word was sent to DR. Jennings, who
| lived near by. Instead of responding, he
told the messenger to bring the boy to
| his office After the boy had been taken
| to the office it was fully twenty-five min
| pies before the doctor came down. he
looked at him. gave him little Pill and
went back upstairs. When l arrived
half hour later the boy was downstairs
and the doctor had not given nm any
further attention. He was vomiting then.
! / undertook to get him out to my wagon.
| He was helpless and l had bad job or 1t.
DIR. Jennings did not even offer to lend
hand to help me get the boy to the wa
gon, though he knew that l was taking
him out 1t was nearly 10 O'Clock before
! DIR. Jennings came to the house TO see the
boy, and then he did nothing except TO
give him another morphine pill. When l
called at the doctors office to see him
about the boy he said that he was only
a common barrOOm bum, and he seemed
TO take very little interest in the case,
doing nothing to relieve the boys suffer-
ings, though he was constantly vomiting
and had two hemOrrhages. He brought
DR. Elliott out with him tuesday after
noon but nothing was done. That night
when the boy was in great suffering Fred
Grewe went to DR.. Jennings to get him
to come out; He would not even come
| downstairs, but talked out OF the Win
dow He said he had done all he could for
the boy and that it was no use for him
TO 90 to the house. He might have gone
inst to relieve the boys sufferings, even
if the case was hopeless: IT would have
helped the feelings of his mother at
AS the sanitary board remained in ses-
sion only a short while after it finished
hearing evidence 1t is not likely that it
came to any conclusion. The result no
doubt will depend on whether the evidence
brought out at the hearing supports Mr..
Lutz's charges.
DR.. Jennings was elected city physician
by the present board a little more than
a year ago. He has not found life a
bed of roses since. Not very long after
his election serious charges We're pre-
ferred against him of allowing a woman
who had taken laudanum with suicidal
intent to die of neglect. Some members
| of the board were very severe in their
structures upon DR.. Jennings at the time,
and it was stated that he was to be
allowed to resign as the best solution of
the matter. The board saw fit, however
to continue him as a city physician. Health
officer Drummer, it seems, has maintained
a close scrutiny of DR. jennings work
since, and it is said that his opinion is
unfaVorable to the latter
IN THE COURT OF ORDINARY.