Observations on the Caesarean section and on other obstetric operations : with an appendix of cases.

  • Radford, Thomas, 1793-1881.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the Caesarean section and on other obstetric operations : with an appendix of cases. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    sidered a sine qiid non that both the os uteri, the degree of its dila- tation, and also that the presentation of the infant, should be ascer- tained before this destructive operation is performed. These impor- tant desiderata do not, however, always exist in cases in which the pelves are highly distorted. In twenty-one of the tabulated cases, the os uteri could not be felt; in twenty-one cases there is no account given, from which it is fair to conclude that it could not be touched—making together forty-two cases. In thirty-five cases, the os uteri was discovered with more or less difficulty. In sixteen cases, no part of the infant could be reached. In forty-one cases, we have no account; which omission affords negative or presumptive evidence that the presen- tation could not be ascertained, which together make fifty-seven cases. In twenty-one cases, the following presentations are recorded: in twelve the head, in three the hand, in two a hand and a foot, in one a foot, in one a hip, and in two the arms. The foregoing remarks, and the above authenticated facts, are, I hope, amply sufficient to establish the proposition of the necessity of the Csesarean section as a recognised obstetric operation. Although the subsequent observations do not relate to the necessity of the operation, yet I deem them so practically important that I have ventured to place them in this chapter. In some cases of rupture of the uterus, the infant might be re- moved with more safety to the mother by an abdominal section, than by dragging it away either by the feet or by the crotchet. Trask's extensive statistics are very favourable to its adoption in some cases of this accident. When a woman who is nearly at the full period of pregnancy dies, or if killed by accident, the obstetrician is, morally, socially, and professionally, bound to propose posi mortem hysterotomy. Justice to the incarcerated (most likely hving) infant demands an immediate decision, as too long delay would be hazardous to its life. It is, however, a well kno\vn fact, that the infant survives the death of its mother much longer than is usually supposed. In this empire, me- dical men are quite at liberty to exercise a free and conscientious judgment; they are not trammeled by theological dogmas, as they are in France and other countries.