Num. 11.

527

THE

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Published by Authority.

WELLINGTON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1924.

Commission to inquire into and report upon the Prevention and Treatment of Puerperal Septicæmia and like Diseases, in particular relation to the Illness of Patients at the Kelvin Maternity Hospital, Auckland.

[L.S.] JELLICOE, Governor-General.

A PROCLAMATION.

To all to whom these presents shall come, and to FREDERICK EARL, Esquire, K.C., O.B.E., of Auckland, Barrister; Sir DONALD JOHNSTONE McGAVIN, C.M.G., D.S.O., M.D., F.R.C.S., Director-General of Medical Services; JAMES SANDS ELLIOTT, M.D., Wellington, Medical Practitioner; and Lady JACOBINA LUKE, C.B.E., 15 Burnell Avenue, Wellington, Married Woman: Greeting.

WHEREAS it is expedient that inquiry should be made into the conditions under which the disease of puerperal septicæmia, or like diseases, arise or is spread, and particularly into the occurrence of maternal deaths at the Kelvin Maternity Hospital, Auckland, during the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, for the purpose of ascertaining the cause or causes of such deaths or illnesses, the circumstances thereof, whether there was any, and, if so, what, connection in their causes or origins; whether all necessary and desirable measures were taken to prevent their occurrence; and what steps, if any, are necessary or desirable to guard against, deal with, or prevent the recurrence of similar illnesses, or deaths, under like circumstances:

Now, therefore, I, John Rushworth, Viscount Jellicoe, Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand, in exercise of the powers conferred by the Health Act, 1920, the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, and all other powers and authorities whatsoever enabling me in this behalf, and acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, do hereby constitute and appoint you the said

Frederick Earl,
Donald Johnstone McGavin,
James Sands Elliott, and
Jacobina Luke

to be a Commission to investigate and report all such matters, and particularly—

A

1. The circumstances surrounding the illness of—
   (a.) Mrs. Heather Hill Barker, who died at Kelvin Maternity Hospital on or about the twenty-second day of July, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and whose cause of death was certified childbirth two days, uræmia eight hours.
   (b.) Mrs. Hazel Montgomery Morison, who died at Kelvin Maternity Hospital on or about the thirteenth day of September, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and whose cause of death was certified as anæmia, thrombosis-veins, coronary embolism, heart failure.
   (c.) Mrs. Doris Elsie Jones, who died at the Auckland Hospital on or about the twenty-fifth September, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and whose cause of death was certified as septic puerperal uterus.
   (d.) Evelyn Maude Dacre, who died at Mater Misericordia Hospital on or about tenth October, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and whose cause of death was certified as septicæmia.
   (e.) Mrs. Emma Caroline Ada Delamore, who died in the Kelvin Maternity Hospital on the nineteenth November, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and whose cause of death was certified as puerperal fever ten days, pneumonia three days, heart failure.
   (f.) Mrs. Muir, who developed a disease diagnosed as septicæmia while under treatment in the Kelvin Maternity Hospital on or about the ninth November, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and who subsequently recovered.

2. Whether any other persons who were patients in the Kelvin Maternity Hospital during the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three died or became ill during or following confinement and, if so, what were the causes of such deaths or illnesses.

3. Whether the steps taken in regard to the diagnosis and treatment of these cases at the hands of the medical practitioners and nurses in charge at the Kelvin Maternity Hospital were proper and sufficient.