MATERNITY MORTALITY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 17 June 1924, Page 7

MATERNITY MORTALITY.

ALARMIST STATEMENTS. B.M.A.’i" PROTEST. By Telegraph—WeTs Association WELLINGTON. June lb. At a meeting of tho Counci of tho British MedicaT Association, the . ibiect of maternal mortality was discussed 1 and the following resolution »a. SrtSSK, wwic to assist in any practical way to redtmo maternal mortality, views with giav,. disfavour the alarming and exagg-i-Sed statements made on the public platform and published m the picss throughout New Zealand. It should be explained that of maternal deaths during the last five years, only °67 were attributable to septic-aema, and as deaths from abortion, however procured, are not differentiated from deaths at full term, a fair inference is that only a proportion of tins number were due to puerperal septicaemia, as generally understood. Moreover, tho' Bertillon system of registration, though at present widely recognised, is unsatisfactory as a means of com parisou between countries. While v.o cannot, unfortunately, gainsay cur own figures, this Council is firmly ol opinion, from its knowledge of cb* Metric- work and conditions in some o\ the other countries mentioned, that the relative position of New Zealand, in respect to maternal mortality, is iit realitv hotter than has been stated. “The Council deprecates particula -ly such statements as those attributed to Dr. Truby King. viz.—‘that for every 100 women sacrificed 1000 were gravely damaged’ : that, ‘of 30,000 children born every year, 1000 were damaged hv precipitate midwifery’ : and fiirtbei (as published in another report) that, ‘of 30.000 children horn annually in Now Zealand, a thousand were dam aged for life.’ The Council considers such statements absolutely contrary to fact, and seriously and unnecessarily alarming to expectant mothers.”