Final report of Departmental Committee on Maternal Mortality & Morbidity.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Maternal Mortality & Morbidity.
Date:
1932
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Final report of Departmental Committee on Maternal Mortality & Morbidity. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    partum haemorrhage could’ have been avoided had the serious im- port of a first warning haemorrhage been realised, since the majority of the patients who died in their own homes had had previous warn- ing of the impending danger some days or weeks beforehand. Had this been heeded they might have been placed in more suitable surroundings before the serious bleeding’ began. 5. Post-partum Haemorrhage. There were 204 women who died directly from post-partum © haemorrhage. The same absence of active measures to combat blood loss that was noted in the First Series is again apparent in this Second Series. Amongst these 204 cases, intravenous saline was given in 29 cases and rectal or subcutaneous salines in 48 cases. In 8 cases only was a blood transfusion given. In the remaining 124 cases no active attempts to make up the blood-volume were made. In 125 out of the 204 cases the haemorrhage followed a normal first and second stage. The method of delivery of the placenta was as follows :— Spontaneous in 109. Manual removal in 65. Undelivered in 17. Unstated, 13. The Committee urge that the doctor’s equipment for attending labour cannot be considered complete unless it includes the means for the immediate administration of intravenous or subcutaneous saline or gum-saline injections. Moreover, although it must often be impossible to give a blood-transfusion in an emergency in unsuitable surroundings, the proved value of this procedure is so great in cases of haemorrhage that the Committee feel that no efforts should be spared to increase the availability of this method of treatment. 6. Other Toxemaas. This group, as in the First Series, includes deaths due to preg- nancy albuminuria without fitS (excluding chronic nephritis), hyperemesis gravidarum, delayed chloroform poisoning, mania and chorea. It comprises 180 cases in this Second Series. 7. Hmbolism. With a total of 206 cases, many of doubtful diagnosis, this group is probably much too large, and, as in the First Series, no very definite conclusions can be drawn from it. Out of the 206 cases pyrexia was noted in 55, and venous thrombosis in 43. 8. Deaths due to Extra-Uterine Gestation. There were 55 deaths reported under this heading. 9. Deaths due to Abortion. The proportion of deaths due to abortion in the total 3,805 cases of the Second Series is slightly greater than in the First Series. The