Obstetric operations : including the treatment of hmorrhage / by Robert Barnes ; with additions, by Benjamin F. Dawson.

  • Robert Barnes
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Obstetric operations : including the treatment of hmorrhage / by Robert Barnes ; with additions, by Benjamin F. Dawson. 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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    pelvis is simply drawn to the edge of the bed, the patient lying on her left side. I think it needless to enter into con- troversy upon the relative advantages of the two positions. We shall probably adhere to custom. The English metliod involves much less disturbance of the patient; it involves no exposure; it requires no second assistant; and is, in many respects, most convenient in home practice. But, in cases of convulsions, where the patient is unconscious or un- manageable, it is at times necessary to apply the forceps in the dorsal position. If we use the long French forceps, there is, indeed, little choice. The patient must be in lithotomy position, or, if on her side, the pelvis must over- hang the edge of the bed to an inconvenient extent. The conditions rendering the dorsal position preferable will be pointed out as the occasions arise. [In the United States it is almost the universal practice to place the patient in the dorsal position. Her hips are placed on the edge of the bed, with folded sheets or blankets under them to make a plane surface ; each leg is held by an assistant, the thighs and legs being flexed at right angles and the feet resting on the assistant's knees; one hand of each assistant is placed upon the knee of the patient and the other holds and steadies the foot. The operator either kneels between his assistants or sits upon a low chair.] The operation may be divided into four stages or acts. 1. Introduction of the blades ; 2. Locking; 3. Traction and leverage ; 4. Removal of the instrument. 1. Which Made do you ^j)a.s5 first f—-In the case of the short forceps, both blades being alike, yon cannot take up the wrong one. Seizing, then, either blade, you have to pass it between the head and the sacrum, and, feeling the pubic ear, you know the sacral ear is exactly opposite. This blade becomes the posterior or sacral blade. Holding the blade lightly in the right hand, the handle raised and di- rected forward, so that the blade shall cross the mother's right thigh obliquely, the point will be guided over the