(Evening Bulletin, August 4, 1904)
At the meeting of the Board of Health held yesterday afternoon an old complaint was sounded again in the following letter from Dr. McGettigan of Hana:
Hana, Maui, H. T., July 28, 1904.
Hon. L. E. Pinkham, President of Board of Health, Honolulu, H. T.
Sir:—On June 30 about noontime I was ordered per telephone by the Deputy Sheriff of Kipahulu, to start at once for Kalepa Gulch to examine the body of a Chinaman (Akiu) who had been found dead on the beach. On inquiring what authority he had for calling me he replied that he had been ordered by L. M. Baldwin, Sheriff of Maui, to call the doctor to examine the body.
Kalepa Gulch is sixteen miles from Hana and is between Kipahulu and Kaupo, and the last four miles of the trail is about the worst and most dangerous in the Hawaiian Islands. There are three gulches, between 500 and 600 feet deep, to cross, and the trail leading through is at places on a grade of fifty per cent, actual measurement. On account of heavy grades and rough country, traveling in Hana district is principally done on horse-back and, from the nature of the country, is slow and tedious. At Kipahulu I changed my saddle horse for a mule and proceeded with all possible haste so as to complete my work before dark.
On reaching the place where the body was I made the necessary examination. The body was in an advanced stage of decomposition and presented evidence of death by drowning, in fact was found close to the breakers where the tide had receded and left. Myself and the coroner’s jury were satisfied that the cause of death was drowning. The deputy sheriff and jury considered that to proceed further with the post mortem was unnecessary, besides darkness was coming on, we were several miles from any habitation without lanterns, and to travel that trail in the dark would be foolhardy, So the coroner’s jury brought in their verdict, and we started homeward and attempted to reach Kipahulu, or at least to get over the worst gulches before it became too dark to see. I was compelled to stay at Kipahulu that night and return home next day.
I am relating all this so that you may get some idea of the difficulties I am under in attending to this work for the sherlff’s department. I rendered a bill (enclosed) for $50 which was returned per Sheriff Baldwin, in the condition In which you see it. I enclose the correspondence between the Clerk to High Sheriff and Sheriff Baldwin. As you see in this letter of the Clerk to High Sheriff $10 is offered in settlement of the bill, and he states that several years ago $10 was the amount allowed. I wish to refer this matter to the Board of Health and hope that I am not presuming too much when I think you can have the matter arranged satisfactorily. Under the existing conditions where these services to the Attorney General’s Department are not part of my duties I think my services on this occasion are worth at least $50, and I think the medical members of the Board will agree with me in this. It is probable that a number of cases like mine will come before the Board and I thought you would like to take up the matter of compensation from the Attorney General’s Department to Government physicians and have it settled so that physicians will know just what their position is.
Very respectfully,
R. J. McGETTIGAN, M. D.
In returning the bill to Sheriff Baldwin, H. M. Dow, High Sheriff’s clerk, said:
“You will notice in your instructions several years ago, that only $10 would be allowed for post mortems and autopsies unless there were great reasons fully expressed for more than $10.”
Dr. Cooper1 said that the question of extra remuneration for government physicians for performing extra work for other departments was an old one. He thought that Dr. McGettigan’s bill was a just one. Upon motion of Deputy Attorney General W. S. Fleming, the matter was referred to the Attorney General’s department.
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