MATERNAL MORTALITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19201, 18 June 1924, Page 8

MATERNAL MORTALITY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —The views expressed in a letter from **A Medical Practitioner who ia a Mother Also” are marked by commonscnse. H ls a. pity a few more of her kind would not come to light and help in the solution of cne of the most serious problems that is confronting us to-day. Wo read with sheer indignation the suggestions put forth _by Sir Maui ' Pomare and his ‘‘babbling party.” Can you tell mo what these men know about thia kind of work? If their suggestions wore carried out the effect would not only bo to increase maternal mortality and infant mortality, but to decrease the birth rate considerably, and this country cannot afford to do that. Before spending such a vast sum of money on more maternity hospitals' lot the IleSlth Department ■ put into order the hosiiitals of to-day. especially our maternity hospitals, which are run by the State. I for one have suffered greatly as the result of being in one of these “up country” places whore St. Helen’s methods are adopted, with many bad results. Wo have here in our district a large maternity hospital which is almost isolated. All the practice ia going to the private hospitals in Dunedin. Why is this? Yet wo have a board of men and one woman saying nothing. I would say also that there is room for improvement, even in our private maternity hospitals. Most of these hospitals are old buddings which should not be used for maternity work. Another fault is with the doctors, some of whom are inclined to leave too much to the nurse-in-oharge. I noted on one occasion, where a doctor who called to see a patient, was told (bv the matron) that the patient was ‘‘doing nicely,” whereas the woman was not ‘‘doing nicely,” and the result was that this same woman later on had a sixmonths’ illness. I consider it would bo a good thing if the medical men would ask the patients themselves how they feel. I noted on another occasion where a nurse left a patient to suffer intensely all night, simply because the patient did not do as the nurse suggested. Some of these “would-be professionals” think they know more than a ■woman twice their ag'e, but they have a lot to learn yet in some things. Again, some nurses are extremely careless, and I consider that any nurse who causes a patient undue suffering should bo reported and dismissed at once. Until stricter rules are brought into action maternal mortality will never bo any loss than it is. . I would further suggest the food which is frequently supplied in maternity cases is not of the quality it ought to bo. There is ‘ too much of “tea and biscuits.” and ‘ dishwater soups” made from packets. Plow can 1 a woman that needs building up get her ’ strength up on this class of food? When " you consider that patients pay five or six guineas a week for attention, I think they Sught to get better diet, such aa good ' beef tea, made from gravy beef. But, there ia far too much hurry-scurry in these |>laces, and not enough time ia taken in preparing tho right food for the mother, although the mothers now need it more tfhan ever they did, as wo are not built of the same stuff aa our mothers and grandmothers were, although Sir Maui Pomare must think we are when he could put , forth such inhuman and drastic suggestions. -■—l am, etc., Otago Central Mother. ’ Sir, —The women of New Zealand owe i; the writer of the letter appearing in your i* paper of Juno 13 a vote of thanks. At last, e. medical practitioner and mother has ap- ‘ peared in the firing line to champion our 1 ri £ hts - , • , Can any man or woman read the points ; of St. Helens system without concern? ' 1 know women who have suffered untold 1 torture which has been worse than the !• death which our elderly doctors seem so ! afraid of in connection with the “mothers.” ; Plowever kind the matron and nurses are in these hospitals, the system is discreditable to Now Zealand. Do our old-fashioned , doctors advocate spending £400,000 on more of these institutions? As your correspondent suggests, why not use the money lor hosj, pitals run on modern lines and give science, i humanity, and kindness a chance to prove " their worth? It has been my dream for many years to see such a place established. ■; Perhaps some philanthropist will help New i' Zealand in the biggest national scheme vet i devised —that of aiding New Zealand women i to populate their country by encouragement and at a minimum of pain. Wealthy women can go to private hospitals where a doctor attends them during the whole of their confinement and where chloroform is given or twi-light sleep is employed in prolonged labour. I have three healthy little nephews bom under ' these conditions and their mother recovered her normal health long before I did. My two children were bom “naturally” and without chloroform, with disastrous and lasting, results to me. Imagine three days’ torture! If men had any chivalrous feeling existing, they would certainly not build ( any more institutions that are relics of by- ■ gone times. ■ The Kelvin affair seems, to the lay mind, to have been the result of extreme carelessness. Sepsis was the cause of death —not the use of chloroform or humane methods to ease labour, and that is all that a reasonable woman requires in the ordeal. Yet these doctors at Palmerston North talk of educating the women first. They themselves need educating in modern gnetnods. In my opinion a qualified doctor Imd mother is the only person able to discuss the question. Imagine what a boon 1 lo the .country it would be to possess public hospitals run under the kindly yet capable supervision of such women. Up would jgo tho birthrate! Many husbands of the "“thinking” class limit their families because of the methods that are used in chilch birth. They will, not allow their wives to,‘suffer even though these women may want children. We live in an ago when the size of- tho is regulated. If the Government wishes to populate the country it must use ■ attractions or the class of people it wishes to increase will possess one child and no more. Private hospitals are safer places than public for the commonsense reason ’ that less women are congregated together ~ and therefore there is less chance of sepsis. * The Kelvin Hospital was an exception. ■ Let inquiries be made into St. Helens and , all public maternity homes and find tho ■ number of septic cases. t Every woman should demand her rights * and they are these: A doctor in attendance c early in the confinement in case anything | needs rectifying to avoid later trouble and * lomplications. Twi-sleep in prolonged 1- labour ; whiffs of 1 chloroform, and every attention and ’kindness. Doctors like to ■ walk in “when all is over.” They are not paid to do this. Most nurses like to ;■ . please the doctor, and so let the patient suffer. Luckily there are exceptions, but they are few. May I say that Dunedin is surprisingly old-fashioned, and it is left to other towns to be scientific and humane. In concluding, may I ask if our “leave to nature” doctors have their teeth extracted without gas or injection as was done one hundred years ago? Do they still use candles instead ot our modern electric light? Has science done so much and yet stopped short at the one thing that occurs daily—*md matters so much—a confinement? The lowliest woman who has a healthy child has done more national work than any politician, and yet the majority got no thanks, and worse —no humane help. Women are not afraid of death, but they are afraid of the St Helens system. Are they to lie blamed? Let the women see how much national spirit the doctors and politicians have. If money is spent wisely in the furtherance of humane methods, watch the birth-rate !—I am, etc., A 1924 Mother. KuroWj Juno 14.