A WOMAN DOCTOR’S VIEWS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19197, 13 June 1924, Page 9

A WOMAN DOCTOR’S VIEWS.

g IR There are two sides to this 'burning question of maternal mortality and the resulting campaign for th© re-education ol mothers tnat has sprung from »t. Before we talk of spending ±400.000 on more maternity hospitals, we want to know on what methods these hospital® will be run, and what results they arc likely to return us Moreover, at this juncture of affairst will bo well for the public to know that the Sparten methods of childbirth as advocated at Palmerston by the leaders 0 t the present campaign, are only tlie opinions of a. small handful of men. These opinions L not in accord with scientific progress, and therefore are not the accepted belief of the majority of the medjeal profevsaion. And furthermore, we believe that oould the women ol New Zealand be pu • vailed upon to adopt these out-of-date methods, it would make no improvement whatever in our problem of maternal moitawc’ take it that this present, campaign is the out-come 01 the K-dvm in<iiu i y. 11 that searching inquiry failed in any one of the fatal cases to record evidence of interference with Nature,” the present slogan ol he health authorities, “Back to Natures ways’ seems somewhat mapprop.i ate Tltcse Kelvin cases presumably were l*ft to Nature, and. nevertheless, died of * C At ß this stage we should have more evirtoncp about the pros a.rtd cons ot the bt. Helen’s system, which the leaders of the pwsent campaign arc urging all women to adopt. The St. Helen’s system is so namee. because it is the method adopted in. our preson Government hospitals. Its mam points ale; 1. All cases save the most complicated shall be conducted by a midwife only, o No anaesthetics of any kind shall be administered at any stage of a ovp unless a doctor is summoned tor a midwifery operation. • 0 Cfiiches if required for lacerations, shall S - nse’rted by the sisters without any anesthetics, th© patient being ’’held down” during the process. 1 If there is any remote prospect of the the patient delivering 1 hersolt she shah be left unaided in labour as long *s three days. Only (to quote the Palmerston report) when "God, Nature, and the midwife” fail, shall a doctor be summoned. Tslmv Sir I submit that this St. Helen’s svstem is both old-fashioned and inhuman and “oe. not give as good results as the uu>ro humane methods. Of the immediate results, those oi us vh have inside knowledge, know for .certain that there have been as bod epidemics of sepsis in these Governments hospitals aa ever ocpurred at Kelvin. . - , Of the remote results we see abundant fruit in the surgical wards of our public hospitals, where extensive operations are iU'cessaT in the endeavour to restore damage clone in labour. It is noteworthy how seldom these extensive operations are necessary in the class of woman who secures skilled medical attention during their confinements. „

Before upending any more money on their' “Back-to-Nature educational-campaign’;' will the Health Department give us evidence of the benefits of the method they advocate? Is the department willing to publish;— , 1. All its records of maternal mortality occurring in or consequent upon confinement in its Stated-aided maternity hospitals during (he last 10 years; 2. All its records of maternal morbidity occurring in these hospitals for tho same period; 3. Its records of infant mortality, still-born or else dying in the first four weeks of life, during the loot 10 years? We have heard very adverse reports about private hospital statistics, but there ha* been an uncanny eilenoe about these Government hospital figures, and we doubt very much if they can show any improvement on similar figures drawn from private Now. it is obvious to every intelligent person, that unless definite proof fa forthcoming, nothing is going to be gained by all • this propaganda, and projected expenditure. Better let our women be. confined as at present where and bow they will, if, by so doing they can have more relief with ;USt- A* much safety. I have stated that this St. Helen’s system, leaving all tut the very, worst cases -to-A midwife, is inhuman. I now state that, given skilled medical attention and close personal supervision iuy the doctor, labour pains can bo reduced to a minimum with perfect safety to mother and child. The problem of maternal mortality'doe* not rest with any one method, manner-or place. If our percentage is above that of other countries it is largely due to thp method by which we collect our statistics, : If our Health Department sincerely .want® to strike at the root of 50 per cent. of.'the’ “preventable cases” of maternal mortality, let it have the courage to make venereal disease e notifiable disease with a strict supervision of cases. 1 ’-!»< S eeing nain can be relieved without ado - - tional risk to mother or child, would it nolle an act of mercy for the Government to institute these up-to-date methods in it* State hospitals and make easier to women their contribution to the wealth ■ Our Government rightly prides it sell in never stinting in matters of national health. Lap it not at once set aside, one up-to-date maternity hospital to be run along the latent scientific" and humane methods and let tu9 comparative figures speak for themselves/, - Soon after the discovery of chloroform Queen Victoria announced she was 'going, V> have chloroform at her approaching confinement. Immediately a deputation of the bishops of London waited on her. out the error of her nlan. They told hg “pain in labour was Biblical, was womai prerogative, and she would be setting a ,v«W bad national, example if she sought reli«T from Nature’s ordeal.” The Quc«n s/reply was much to the point—“ Gentlemen, T «« having this baby, not you. _ n v«*w As a medical practitioner who knows how safely pain can be relieved, and as a mother who has had more experience of labour tfigb Sir Maue Pomare or Dr Tim by King _aP ever aspire to have on behalf of many mothers of New Zealand I reply to th«*e would-be-educationalists’ statements- Gentle men, we are. having New Zealand s babies, ,”t you.” And I assure these gentlemen that unless they can hold out to us »» thing better than “labour unrelieved on one band and the risk of mortality on the other hand” the result of their campaign will b* „ droD noi of New Zealand s matein _ mortality, but of the whole New /.ealand birth-rate.—l am, etc., A Medical Practitioner Who is also a Mother.

TO THE EDITOR.