Hospital Protocol Question

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi all,

I've long been irked by the fact that Dr. George Haslip interviewed Emma Smith as she lay dying, learned of the horrible attack which took her life, and yet no one from the London Hospital contacted the police to inform them. They didn't learn of the crime until they were notified by the coroner's office that an inquest was to take place on April 7th, and they didn't hear this until the 6th (3 days after the attack and 2 days after Smith's death)!

My question is, who's responsibility was it to notify the police? Was it Dr. Haslip's or someone else? SOMEBODY was derelict in their duties and it might have cost the police their investigation.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Simon Wood]

Hi Tom,

May I ask the source of your chain of events?

Regards,

Simon

[Monty]

Tom,

Smiths assault wasn't uncommon, I'm afraid it comes with the territory in Emmas situation and line of work.

To report every attack, which would have been daily and numerous, was just not realistic.

Also, Smith herself was reluctant to report it. However, once she did pass away a suspicious death has occured an inquest is called and, by law the police are notified to attend.

Simon,

I suspect Tom got it from the casefile.

Monty

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Monty and Simon. Yes, from the case file and newspapers. I understand what you're saying, but my ire is compounded by the fact that on the same night as Smith was attacked, Malvina Haynes was hit upon the head by a stranger and taken to the hospital, where she also was tended to by Dr. Haslip, who immediately notified the police on her behalf. DS Nue was assigned to the case and spent hours at the hospital waiting for Malvina to become conscious so she could say what happened. This was all simultaneous to Emma Smith, and at no time did it occur to Dr. Haslip to mention to the detective he was conferring with that another woman had been beaten and abused even worse. I just find the whole thing remarkable. And again, as regular as injured street women might have been, I would think it standard protocol to notify the police when one dies from wounds inflicted upon her, particularly those as ghastly as what Smith received.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[lynn cates]

odd

Hello Tom.

"This was all simultaneous to Emma Smith, and at no time did it occur to Dr. Haslip to mention to the detective he was conferring with that another woman had been beaten and abused even worse. I just find the whole thing remarkable."

That is remarkable indeed. Obviously Smith's case was much the more important of the two.

I presume it was reported immediately she died?

Cheers.
LC

[Tom_Wescott]

Malvina Haynes

Hi Lynn. No, Emma didn't make the papers until the inquest. Here's the Malvina Haynes article. From The Eastern Post & City Chronicle of April 14th, 1888. I was hoping someone might have an insight in the hospital's strange actions regarding Smith. NOTE that I'm copying and pasting this from the Press Reports section and it pasted funny.

THE LATEST WHITECHAPEL MYSTERY.
A WOMAN'S MEMORY GONE.
Malvina Haynes, who received very serious injuries to her head and scalp on the night of Bank Holiday,
has been from that time until Tuesday lying quite unconscious at the London Hospital, no sounds but
moans having escaped her lips. The sufferer has been under the care of Mr. George E. Haslip, the house
surgeon, and yesterday the patient, upon regaining consciousness was only able to briefly relate the
circumstances of the outrage. On many points her memory is an entire blank; and when questioned as
to what her assailant was like, she replied, "I cannot remember, my mind is gone." The hospital
authorities at once communicated with Detective-sergeant William New, who has charge of the case,
and certain information which casually passed from the woman's lips may perhaps
LEAD TO A CLUE
respecting the would-be murderer. Mr. Haynes, the husband, who is a hard-working house painter,
living at 29, Newnham Street, Great Alie Street, Whitechapel, has expressed his deep sense of
unremitting skill and kindness his wife has received from the surgical and nursing staff at the hospital,
and from a statement which he has made it appears that his wife, himself, and some friends spent Bank
Holiday together by seeing some of the sights of the Metropolis, and in the evening Mrs. Haynes
returned with them to her home. She went out later on, and
SCREAMS WERE SHORTLY HEARD
in the vicinity of Leman Street Railway Station. A constable then discovered Mrs. Haynes lying
insensible on the ground in a pool of blood. Besides her brain being affected by the injury, Mrs. Haynes
is suffering from a scalp wound of rather an extensive character. A man who was said to have been
near the unfortunate woman at the time of the occurrence, and who resided in the district, has since
left the neighbourhood. The police hope that he may come forward, as his testimony might aid the ends
of justice, by relating what he saw of the outrage.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Simon Wood]

Hi Tom,

Emma Smith made the newspapers the day before the inquest.

Daily News, 6th September 1888 -



Regards,

Simon

[lynn cates]

responsibility

Hello Tom. Thanks. Well, I almost want to say that a report to the police may have depended on whether the assault were fatal. But clearly, this is the reverse.

I hope that someone can shed some light on whether the hospital or doctor were responsible for a police report. But my guess would be the former.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

missing?

Hello Simon. Thanks for posting that. I wonder whether the police report were filed and has gone missing?

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi Tom,

I understand your frustration in the inconsistencies between Smith and Haynes.

Chief Inspector West told the Smith inquest that he "was only aware of the case through the daily papers" [6th September], but H Division must surely have been informed at around the same time Emma's death was reported to the Coroner on the 5th.

Also, from my reading of events I get the feeling that DS New went to the hospital after Haynes had regained consciousness on the 9th September.

Regards,

Simon

[Tom_Wescott]

Hi Simon, thanks for that, although the police were notified on the same day as this report.

Had Dr. Haslip asked Detective Nue, who was already at the hospital, to step into Smith's room and interview her, he quite possibly would have gleaned more details than the ridiculously young doctor, untrained in interrogation. The police also would have then been able to set upon their investigation within hours of the crime having taken place instead of many days later. Who's to say if it would have made a difference, but it could have.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Errata]

Was Malvina Haynes a prostitute?

[Simon Wood]

Hi Errata,

Various census returns gave her occupation as "Tailoress".

Regards,

Simon

[Monty]

Tom,

I see your point however there seems to have been a reluctance on Smiths part which may have impacted as to why the police were not notified.

Again we must put ourselves into the Victorian world and its seeming brutalities.

Tailoress, Seamstress...all euphanisms.

Monty

[Cogidubnus]

Guessing....

I would surmise it's simply that Malvina wanted her story told to the police and Emma didn't (she doesn't seem to have been very forthcoming initially about the assault, and perhaps that derives from an antipathy to the police).

Doctors at this time certainly had no obligation to report an assault to the police, and in fact would probably have regarded such an action, against the expressed wishes of a patient, as a breach of the Hypppocratic Oath, part of which reads:

Whatever in connection with my professional practice or not in connection with it I may see or hear in the lives of my patients which ought not be spoken abroad, I will not divulge, reckoning that all such should be kept secret.

Of course, if there's subsequently a death arising out of the assault, then I would guess all bets are off, and the rozzers get called in...

All the best

Dave