The causes of death among the assured in the Scottish Widow's Fund and Life Assurance Society from 1874 to 1894 inclusive / [Claud Muirhead].

  • Muirhead, Claud.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The causes of death among the assured in the Scottish Widow's Fund and Life Assurance Society from 1874 to 1894 inclusive / [Claud Muirhead]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Pyaemia and Septicaemia. By these terms are meant poisoning of the blood by the introduction into it of pathogenic micro-organisms. The poisoning may be due to tlie ])ro- ducts of putrefaction wliicli occur in wounds, abscesses, etc., and should be regarded as a complication of other disorders rather than as a ])rinmry affection. 1S74,-S0.—Si.x claims were due to one or other of these disciises. The primary cause of the blood-poisoning was an injury in the first case, a surgical operation in the second, an Abscess in the third, and a Boil in the fourtli. Defective drainage was responsible for the fifth case, and of the sixth we have no information. lSSl-87.—Twenty-one deaths were attributed to one or other of these diseases. Four of the cases were due to accidental wounds, three to Abscess, two followed operations, seven arose as a complication to various diseases, and of the others no information is given. 1888-94-—Twenty-six members died of one or other of the.se forms of blood-poisoning, at the average age of 50. In three cases the affection was due to absorption of toxines from wounds caused by accident, and in one case from wound caused by a surgical operation. The blood-poisoning Wiis secondary to, or consequent on, Abscess in four cases; Inflammation in three; Necrosis of bones in the face, one ; Disease of the Skull, one. Two gentleTiien, an English doctor of medicine and a Scotch veterinary surgeon, died from blood-poisoning contracted in the execution of their professional duties. Of the others we have no information. Remittent Fever.—See Ague. O Rheumatic Fever. This disease occasioned the death of fifty-eight members, forty-four of whom were English, seven were Scotch, and seven Irish. Their average age at death was 41, and their average age at entry was, roughly speaking, 32. Their total expectation of life was about 1920 years, while they only aggregated about 560 years, or less than one-third of their anticipated after-life. Of the fifty-eight who died of this disease only one exceeded his expectation, and he expired at the respectable age of 74; but I think that his inclusion in this section of ailments was a mistake. He was a sufferer from Bronchitis, and it is stated that he had an attack thereof as a complication of Bheumatic lever, of which latter he is reported to have died. But death from Acute liheumatism is as rare an event at the age of 74 as death from Bronchitis is common, and I feel sure, therefore, that he ought to have been placed under “ Bronchitis.” Excluding him, it is apparent that the death of the remaining fifty-seven persons, within such a short time of their becoming members, was a source of great pecuniary loss to the Society; and the question forces itself upon one. Can any precautions be taken to obviate this in the future ?