The restless female 'Hippee'

It was in the late 1970s. I was working as Consultant Surgeon, Batticaloa. I had to do a Surgical Clinic every week at the Valaichchenai Hospital, close to the famous Pasikuda beach. Only the Rest House and a few tourist cottages were there. It was a haunt of a few ‘Hippies’ from all over the world, who found cheap living in the area. While I was seeing the patients at the surgical clinic, the Medical Officer in charge asked me to see a female Hippie tourist, who seemed very agitated but was otherwise looking normal clinically. There were two European females and a Thai male. The female tourist referred to me was constantly fanning herself even though the ambient temperature was cool. She also was restless. I had come in my Toyota Corolla Station Wagon with my wife Ramya accompanying me on the journey. Since this patient needed the attention of a Consultant Physician, I suggested to the Medical Officer that the patient be transferred to the General Hospital Batticaloa about 12 miles away. Since there was no ambulance available immediately, I offered to take the patient with her female companion in my car, since my wife also was in the car. After I finished the clinic, we took off. I was driving and Ramya was seated in the front seat. The agitated patient and her female companion sat in the rear seat of the car. I had driven a few miles when there were noises of agitation from the rear seat. My wife looked back and told me softly, ‘Mey Gaani Heluwey’ – This woman is naked – ‘Do not look back’. On receipt of this information, I decided not to take the patient to the General Hospital at Batticaloa, where she would make a spectacle of herself. I thought of taking her to a Catholic Convent in Batticaloa, where my friend Sister Concetta from Malta was in charge.  I drove to the convent, met Sister Concetta and she consented graciously to take the girl and her companion in, for 24 hours observation. I told her to summon me if there was any emergency.

                When I visited the convent the next day, the patient was the picture of a demure European lass and she and her female companion were in the best of spirits. I inquired from her what caused her illness. She said that she and her companion had gone to a wayside boutique where hot ‘Rottys’ were for sale. The patient had swallowed two  ‘rotties’, unlike her companion who had taken only one, as the ‘rotties’ were tasty. That had been her undoing.

                In retrospect, I recognized all the symptoms of atropine poisoning taught to us at Medical College – ‘Mad as a March Hare, Red as a beet etc …’. She had been a victim of Datura leaf ingestion. The leaf would have been cooked in the ‘rottties’. Datura – ‘Aththanne’ in Sinhalese and ‘Poomaththai’ in Tamil, has a long history of use in local lore. More of that later.