Salt Lake Telegram | 1932-07-20 | Page 6 | Daily Health Service

Daily Health Service Careful Prenatal Examination Best Bed Safety Measure Editors Editor's note This is 15 the second of foUr articles by Dr Fishbein on paternity Mortality The third will willi appear in tomorrows tomorrow's Telegram I IBy By DR MORRIS MORRIS' FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American I Medical l A Ass s s 0 o c elation I atlon and of Uncia the Health Magazine Much that is fallacious has been written relative to Infection during childbirth The condition is called puerperal sepsis Sensational writers In magazines have shouted to the four tour winds that the death rate in the United States from irom this cause is worse than in any other country in the world and that this is entirely due to ignorance on the part of the people and incompetence on the part of the physician I I There is no real basis for lor such state state- ments meats Most Intelligent American women understand the nature of this condition condi condi- don tion and aDd American ph physicians today are as competent as those to be found anywhere in the world The difficulty lies in fri the misunderstanding misunderstanding misun misun- on the part of these sensational sen sea writers of two main facts First American statistics are kept in ina a manner different from those in other countries so that what is called puerperal infection in this country would not even be listed as a complication com corn in some other countries Second such infections may arise from within the body as well vell as from without the body Puerperal fever or sepsis leads to more deaths and more injury than any other complication of child chile bearing It has been en well by the investigations of the famous Ignaz anc and Oliver Wendell Holmes that many of ot these there cases case can be prevented by byo o observing strictly ant antiseptic pies Most frequently such an infection is due to contact of at infectious germs with unhealed surfaces However it has been well established established for tor this infection as for others other that the determination of infection infection in depends not only on the virulence of the germ but also on the general resistive power of the patient A serious infection is more likely to occur if the patient is not in good condition at the time of child child- birth Dirth if the p patient ent happens to be exhausted by bleeding or if the process process' of ot childbirth has been prolonged pro longed difficult or complicated In most instances the germs probably get to the tissues either from tram instruments dressings dressings dress dress- ings the woman's womans own fingers or organisms organisms or or- which happed to be present in the tissues teeth tonsils or other organs By a careful examination well in advance of childbirth by continuous supervision during th the months preceding preceding pre pre- ceding the doctor should be able to anticipate an exhausting or difficult child bearing process He can take steps to to get rid at foci of infection in n the teeth or tonsils tonsils- or in other tissues of the body He can plan for or childbirth under the best conditions in a suitable hospital where cleanliness and care arc are of tile the best He can no doubt assure assure as as- sure the patient of skilled nursing care with proper handling of dressings dressings dress dress- ings rigs remedies and similar The birth of at a child chUd is never a trifle even under the best of ot circumstances circumstances circum circum- stances under the worst of at circumstances circum f r stances almost anything may happen TOMORROW TOl Other complies lions