Observations on the comparative advantages of affording obstetric attendance on poor woman in lying-in hospitals and in their own homes / by Denis Phelan.

  • Phelan, Denis, 1785-1871.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the comparative advantages of affording obstetric attendance on poor woman in lying-in hospitals and in their own homes / by Denis Phelan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/26 page 18
    both husband and wife having good wages, and money to spare, to avail themselves of the Rotundo; and I infer, from the words of the charter, that neither such parties, nor those of the immoral class, were intended to be relieved in it, unless when an excep¬ tional case might require careful medical watching and professional treatment. Many doubt that it is judicious to give too great facilities to women of this comparatively comfortable class to avail themselves of a public charity, as it is found that it also gives them the habit of craving from their more wealthy neighbours that with which, by thrift, they could readily supply themselves, and that it lessens that spirit of independence and foresight which it is desirable to encourage. Another view of this subject appears to require the serious consideration of lying-in women, and of the authorities of hospitals into which they are admitted, of which, perhaps no better illustra¬ tion could be given than is afforded by Dr. Telford’s letter. He states:—“ Thus, out of a total of twenty-five patients who were in the lying-in wards at the time of the outbreak, seventeen were attacked, and sixteen died.” If, suppose eight of these sixteen could have afforded to meet the moderate expense of being confined at home, under professional attendance from one of the lying-in hospitals, or by the dispensary medical officers, the whole of them, or the greater part, would probably have been saved; for, I find by the Registrar-General’s Return, that the mortality from metria, for the five weeks ended 5th of May, was only seventeen, whereas that returned by Dr. Telford is sixteen. The Rotundo was closed on the 23rd April; and there is no return of deaths from puerperal fever by the Registrar-General in the week ended 5th May. It would seem, therefore, that only one died of that disease in the registration district outside the Rotundo—at least, if the returns made by the several registrars be correct. When loss of life is concerned, another illustration of the caution with which those who can afford the cost of home confinement (unless for some exceptional reason) should desire to be confined in hospitals. During the three first years of Dr. Labatt’s mastership in the Rotundo, 10,248 deliveries took place in it, and only fifty- seven women, or one in 180, died; but in the next four years of his office, 252 died out 11,628, which was one in 46. This higher mortality must have been chiefly caused by puerperal and other fevers; for it is not likely that an able midwifery practitioner
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3