ALARM IN BRITAIN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20477, 1 December 1934, Page 32 (Supplement)

ALARM IN BRITAIN.

High Death Rate in . Maternity Cases. PAINLESS BIRTHS IS PLEA. LONDON, November 17. Despite the expansion in the science of obstetrics and the striking progress in reducing infant mortality, deaths among mothers are increasing in Britain. Latest figures, the medical correspondent of the “ Daily Mail ” states, show that five mothers die in every 1000 births—the highest figure in twenty years. It is pointed out that, although there are 1800 ante-natal clinics in Britain doing work of inestimable value, they are insufficient, while the principal hospitals in some large towns do not possess maternity beds nor an obstetrical staff. Unless maternity wards are supplied. the correspondent adds,* there is no likelihood of reducing the high death-rate. The question of painless child-birth is being widely discussed, but many authorities doubt whether such a development is wholly desirable, as in many cases anaesthesia weakens the mother’s natural powers. It is pointed out that doctors, in fluenced by the patient, midwife and father, are inclined to hurry the birth, sometimes resulting in the mother permanently becoming an invalid. Contrasting this with the formei custom of allowing nature to perform its functions, when mothers of large families retained their health, the “ Daily Mail ” says the public must realise the fact that the more naturally, within limits, the mother has her baby, the safer will motherhood become. The most successful anaesthesia discovered so far is analgesia, the gas-air used in the Burnet Hospital during recent months. This has enabled more than 200 babies to be born painlessly, and it is stated that mothers can administer it themselves.