long as seven-ten minutes before a nurse noticed and called for help, the doctor who helped resuscitate him testified yesterday.

"It was definitely more than five minutes and probably as much as seven-ten minutes,'' resident anaesthetist at the hospital Dr. Alexandra Scott said under questioning from lawyer Mr. Julian Hall MP, representing Justin's parents Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Fisher.

She told a coroner's jury on the 13th day of the inquest into Justin's death that her opinion was based on how long it took her to revive him.

Dr. Scott agreed with Mr. Hall that if Justin's anaesthetist Dr. Tomos Huw Morris had taken a close look instead of "glancing'' over at him while delivering a patient to the recovery room at about 12.10 p.m., he would definitely have noticed the child was not breathing and his lips had turned blue.

The eight jurors have heard Justin was found pale and not breathing by nurse Mrs. Diana Simons between 12.10-12.15 p.m.

The four-year-old died in January last year after going into cardio-respiratory arrest in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital recovery room following a routine tonsillectomy.

He was resuscitated and put on life support -- but taken off a week later when it was determined he was brain dead.

While on the witness stand for the second day yesterday Dr. Scott joined KEMH nurses in their criticism of Dr. Morris for not checking on Justin as he lay in the recovery room.

She said it was "wrong'' of Dr. Morris to just glance over at Justin instead of taking a close look.

And she said it wrong of Dr. Morris to hand over Justin to recovery room nurse Mrs. Pearlette Basden without filling her in on his condition during surgery -- or providing her with a computer printout of his vital signs during the routine operation.

"So you agree it was wrong of Dr. Morris to delegate full responsibility for Justin to the recovery room nurses and expect them to get on with things on the basis his duties were over unless they called upon him?'' asked Mr. Hall.

Dr. Scott agreed: "It was not the right thing to do.'' Her testimony came a day after nursing supervisor in the recovery room Mrs.

Doris Rawlins Matthews told jurors that in her opinion Dr. Morris did not check on his patients as often as he should.

Mrs. Basden -- who was disciplined but not fired by hospital management for leaving the recovery room unattended and failing to conduct an important 12.10 vital signs check -- testified Dr. Morris did not impart to her enough information about Justin's condition during surgery when he handed him over to her. Nor did he make adequate checks on Justin as he lay on his recovery room trolley, she said.

Dr. Scott said she agreed with Dr. Morris' speculation that Justin may have stopped breathing as a result of his head slipping forward and his tongue sliding back and obstructing his airway.

But under questioning from Mrs. Basden's lawyer Mr. Philip Perinchief she conceded her theory was "untenable'' if Mrs. Simons, a nurse of 18 years, was correct in her statement that when she found Justin not breathing -- his head was in the correct, bent position.

She also agreed with Mr. Perinchief that she could not say for certain that Justin's death could have been prevented had Mrs. Basden conducted the 12.10 vital signs check.

The jury heard that Mrs. Basden left the recovery room at about 12.05 to answer the telephone and go to the bathroom.

Dr. Scott repeated under questioning from Mr. Hall that if Justin had been her patient she would have expected to be summoned long before 12.15 p.m.

She said the 35 minutes he lay unconscious since arriving in the recovery room at 11.25 a.m. was "excessively long'' and cause for concern.

She said tonsillectomy patients normally take a maximum of 20 minutes to come out of anaesthesia.

In her opinion she said Dr. Morris gave a "generous'' but not excessive dose of anaesthesia to Justin.

However, she admitted to Mr. Hall that a generous dose would increase the risks associated with anaesthesia and, therefore, more care should be taken of the patient in the recovery room.

She said "most if not all'' anaesthetists attach a printout of the vital signs monitor to anaesthesia charts. If not, she said it was their responsibility to impart to the recovery room nurse more information on the trend of the patient's vital signs during surgery.

"If not it would be disadvantageous to the patient,'' she said.

The inquest is expected to continue through next week.