A Modern Wizard Part 16

"Not that precisely. But he has made a special study of the disease, and I knew that he could give us valuable advice."

"After Dr. Meredith came into the case the patient began to improve, did she not?"

"Yes, sir."

"On the last day of her life, you met Dr. Meredith at the house, and you decided that it would be safe to leave the patient until the following day, I believe. You found her much improved?"

"Yes, sir."

"The membrane had all disappeared, had it not?"

"Very nearly."

"So much so that she could swallow without difficulty?"

"She swallowed very well."

"In fact you concluded that she would recover?"

"I thought that she had pa.s.sed the crisis, but I did not deem her to be entirely out of danger."

"Did you, at any time during this illness, prescribe or administer opium in any form?"

"No, sir."

"Did you see any evidence of that drug exhibited by her condition, lethargic sleep, contracted pupils, or any other diagnostic symptom?"

"No, sir."

"Now, then, you left this girl in the afternoon, recovering from her attack of diphtheria and able to swallow, and you were hurriedly called back in the evening, and found her dying. Did not that surprise you?"

"Yes. I had not expected the disease to take a fatal turn, at least not so rapidly."

"Yet she was in such a condition that she could not even swallow coffee?"

"No, but that----"

"Never mind the reasons, Doctor. The fact is all that we want. Shortly after your entrance into her room she died, did she not?"

"Yes, sir, at eleven thirty. About five minutes after."

"Now, Doctor, notwithstanding the fact that in the afternoon you thought this girl practically out of danger, and notwithstanding the sudden and alarming change which you saw in her that night, and in spite of the fact that the specialist whom you yourself had called into the case, reported to you that he suspected morphine poisoning, you signed a death certificate a.s.signing diphtheria as the cause of death. Now why did you do that?"

"Because it was my opinion!"

"Oh, I see. It was your opinion. Then you did not actually know it."

"Not actually of course. We never----"

"That is all!" exclaimed Mr. Munson, cutting off the witness at the point in his reply most advantageous to his side, and the Doctor remained silent, but appeared much annoyed.

Mr. Bliss smiled at the old legal trick, and in taking the witness began at once, by allowing him to finish the interrupted speech.

"Dr. Fisher," said he, "you had not quite ended your reply when counsel closed your examination. What else was it that you wished to say?"

"I wished to say that I could not actually know the cause of death, because medicine is not an exact science. It is rarely possible to have absolute knowledge about diseased conditions. No two cases have ever been seen that were precisely identical."

"But you judged that this girl died of diphtheria from your experience with such cases, is that it?"

"Yes, sir."

"How much experience have you had!"

"I have been in practice nearly forty years."

"And Dr. Meredith, although a specialist, has had less experience than you, has he not?"

"I object," cried Mr. Munson, "Dr. Meredith was not an expert witness in the first place, and it is too late to try to impeach his ability now."

"The objection is sustained," said the Recorder.

"Now, Dr. Fisher, as you signed a death certificate naming diphtheria as a cause of death, of course that was your opinion at that time. You have been present throughout this trial, and have heard all of the evidence, I believe?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have you heard anything which has made you alter your opinion?"

"No, sir."

"Then tell us, please, in your opinion what was the cause of death."

"I still think that the girl died of diphtheria."

"Despite all the testimony as to finding morphine in the body, and despite the condition of the kidneys, you still think that this girl died of diphtheria?"

"I do."

Mr. Bliss was taking full advantage of his victory over the prosecution, in compelling them to call this witness, who was now giving evidence so damaging to their side.

"Now, then, Doctor, we would like a little more light upon the facts from which you make this deduction. It has been testified and admitted by you, that in the afternoon the membrane had nearly all disappeared, and that the crisis had pa.s.sed. Yet the girl died a few hours later, and you still attribute it to the original disease. How do you come to that conclusion?"

"Diphtheria causes death in several ways. Commonly the false membrane grows more rapidly than it can be removed, and the patient is practically strangled, or asphyxiated by it. It is in such a condition that tracheotomy is essayed, affording a breathing aperture below the locality of the disease. It is not uncommon for the patient apparently to combat the more frightful form of the disease, so that the false membrane is thrown off, and the parts left apparently in a fair state of health, so far as freedom to breathe and swallow is concerned. But then it may happen, especially in anaemic individuals, that this fight against the disease has left the patient in a state of enervation and lowered vitality, which borders on collapse. The extreme crisis is pa.s.sed, but the danger lurks insidiously near. At any moment a change for the worse might occur, whilst recovery would be very slow. When death comes in this form, it is a gradual lessening of vital action throughout the body; a slow slipping away of life, as it were."

"Exactly! So that such a condition might readily be mistaken for a gradually deepening coma?"

"Yes, sir. Whilst the term coma is applied to a specific condition, the two forms of death are very similar. In fact, I might say it is a sort of coma, which after all is common in many diseases."

"So that you would say that this coma, did not specifically indicate morphine poisoning?"