Evening star., 1923-09-22
.LEGLESS SOLDIER
IMPROPERLY CARED
/: FOR, SAYSCAPIA|N
Witness in Court-MartiaI of
Maj. Cook Says Case
Poorly Handled.

Capt. James r. Bibighaus. Medical
Corps. U. S. Army, today told a gen.
eral court-martial at the munitions
building before which Maj. George
w. Cook, Medical Corps, is being
tried for malpractice, that, in his
opinion as a doctor, he felt that Pri-
vate Guy Pendleton, suffering with
fracture of both legs, should have
been sent to a general hospital "at
the start"
Private Pendleton, Capt. Bibighaus
testified. should have been transferred
to a general hospital on account of
his fracture of femur by-lateral" 4"
in such condition that only at two
particular times in his treatment
could he have been removed to a
general hospital, viz, shortly after he
recovered from shock and many
weeks later, when he was finally re-
moved to Walter Reed Hospital, here.
Charged with Failure to Act.
One of the specifications in the
charged against Maj. Cook by the
prosecution alleges failure. of the
who later lost both his legs here by
amputation, from the station hospital
at Fort Eustis, Va. where he was
first taken to a general hospital.
Questioned by Albert W. Kenner,
Medical Corps, for the prosecution.
Capt Bitighaus said he thought the
boy should have been transferred to
a general hospital because such a
fracture calls for skill over and above
that possessed by the general medical
man"
Capt. Bibighaus. in describing the
treatment accorded Private Pendleton
at the Fort Eustis Hospital, where he
was on duty at the time, said that
when the posterior plaster of paris shells
in which the patients legs had been
resting were removed they were found
to have "buckled." This buckling, the
captain explained, had raised a ridge
in each of the shells. Asked if he
could account for this bucklng, the
physician declared he could not. He
did not know, he said, how the shells
had been prepared, nor who had pre-
pared them.
Previous testimony by Private Pen
dleton himself and nurses from the
hospital had revealed that when Pen
dleton'S legs were removed from these
casts sores developed on the calf Of
each leg which gradually grew worse
until his transfer finally to Walter
Reed General Hospital
Capt. BibighauS testified that the
boy had first been attended in the
operating room at the hospital by
Maj Cook, the accused in this case,
| 81
| trial under similar charges is to take
place at the conclusion of Maj. Cook s
trial.
Careful examination of the boys
| feet during the time his legs were
in these plaster of paris shells had
| titled, any indication that anything
was wrong farther up his leg.
Capt. Bibighaus said that when
| Private Pendleton was finally moved
to Walter Reed Hospital "he was
stronger physically than for some
time, less septic than for some weeks
prior, mentally and emotionally far
better. and suffering far less pain"
Pathetic Touch Added.
TOUGH of pathos was added to the
business like trial court martial this
| morning when Capt. Bibighaus re-
! lated in detail the arrival of the boy
at the hospital when he suffered
"excrutiating pain" and cried out IN
! his agony. The boys mother. seated
beside her son in his wheel chair in
! the courtroom, broke into tears.
| Miss Alice NJ Tappan, chief nurse
at Fort Eustis, told the court today
! what she knew of Private Pendleton' S
case, explaining that when one of the
nurses under her, Miss Julia Nc
| Kenna. who testified yesterday, COM
| planned of too much responsibility in
! the Pendleton case and asked to be
| relieved of making the dressings
Maj. Cook had been notified. When
| she had asked Maj. Cook if he wanted
| the chief nurse to put on a night
! nurse in the Pendleton case, Miss
| Tappan testified, Maj Cook said he did
not think 1t was necessary. When
| first admitted the boy with the broker
legs was considered by the chief
nurse as an ordinary fractured case
/ she said, but after it was dressed fol-
| lowing removal of the plaster of paris
| shells she said she considered it a