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Show German Method Of Painless MsAermWm k l Condemned By Various Medical M Cj. jJBA 0 V I 1 Societies, Defended By Others- S L M I I Suffocation Of Child Most Serious Y "IflWj I Objection Raised kf jEg I ! "Twilight Sleep," the German ' method of painless maternity by em ployment of narcotics, is on trial in the Court of Public Opinion charged With poisoning infants and causing "blue" babies. Physicians and their leading or-1 or-1 ganlzation, the American Medical Association, bring the charges after many trials of the alkaloids used in the "sleep, ' and several happy rnotherp with healthy babies are its defenders. The medical accusation is that the scopalamine bromide and the Darkopben employed result in toxic poisoning, almost suffocation and an a.ifiuiiioii of the heart of the child ( The heart affection results from the failure of the foramen ovale, or alvc regulating the flow of blood in the child, to close and this results in infant -beinifis di3Colore 1 tn such an extent that it is called a "blue baby on Bach charges the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, the City Hospital at St. Louis, arious other hospitals in the United States ami the American .Medical Association have condemned and abandoned its use Several deaths ha-. e been reported re-ported from Its employment in many ' large cities but none have becu verified. Th Michael Reese Hospital of Chicago, one of the most conserva tive In the United States and one with the best medical talent in the city on it? visiting staff, reported after a trial ol the scopalamine ami barkophen that it was dangerou- 10 both mother and infant and decided in future it will be employed only when the patient signs a waive:- of all dangerous results of Its administration. admin-istration. The City Hospital at S Louis alter using it in about 1-cates 1-cates announced it would not administer ad-minister it again after its supply of drugl i- exhausted. The American Medical, one of the most conservative conserva-tive organizations in the country, oppubeii itt use from the first and questioned the report of wonderful success by the Frieburgs in Berlin, Germany . The main objection was that uio narcotic poison seriously endangered thi infant, especially through the blood supply, that the foramen oaie did not close and that therefore the child had the appearance of a "blue bab EFFECT ON THI. H B Alt T The foramen ovale is an aperture In the walls of the heart that affects af-fects the blood supply of the infanL In pre-natal life the venous blood of thr mother is the arterial blood of the infant and follows through an opposite channel of that in freo life. On the fl rat respiration the blood supply of the infant becomes its own, changes its channel through the arterial circle to the venous circle cir-cle and back to the lungs to be aere- i ated or freed of the carbonic acic j gas and other poisons carried from the body. When the change from Supplied blood to the actual blood of the infant OCCUtS the foramen ovale slowly clones and the heart then is In a normal condition to pump the blood through normal J channels. If the foramen does not properly close the baby's body has a blur coloi This is caused by an excess of poisons In the blood and by tin i foranim ovale allowing part of the Qon-aereated Or venous blood back into the arteries to be distributed 1 as aereated or ' new" arterial blood The presence of scopalamine or narkbphen in the child's blood would cause the foramen to dialate and remain open physicians nay. Mid thus would be directly responsible respons-ible lor this condition. For the foramen ovale to fail to '-lose is not a strikingly unusual I' condition, physicians say, and sev eral yean, ago a doctor, who believed be-lieved this foramen in his body had never closed and bad subjected him to low and poor blood pressure, on death submitted his body to au- tonsy and the foramen was found j! "till to be open It Ifl B small apera- lure in the harl that, on micro 3 scopic examination is hardly not ce- blfc The effect of Its reniaiulng open are slightly physiological re. sultiug In a diminishment of vital force, but after the period ot childhood child-hood never have proved fatal, according ac-cording to physicians. -BLUB" l 0M)IT10 SfO'I WORST. The "blue" condition Is not the worst effect of the two drugs Scopolamine Sco-polamine Hydrqbromide and narko-phen narko-phen (thr- latter an ethical preparation prepara-tion of morphine with its more severe se-vere and narcotic principles removed) re-moved) are both more or less dangerous dan-gerous alkaloids, physicians say. While they are administered to the patient alternately in about one-tenth one-tenth trams each such a dose might prove fatal to an infant. Yet they fS injected In the blood ol the mother and thus their poisonous of-S of-S goes to the child with dangerous dan-gerous effects. The -.Itnlitv of he Slid on presentation depends on tin; Sllity of the heart to pump blood trough its newly opened channcs md It is complained by physicians 'that such cardiac activity is In a Stat measure hindered bv the. u being communieate, from the mother to the child. U,T le problem now preset Itfell again as this. "Ha science solved this world old problem through ItB study of the drug problem or aro mothers to suffer as they did in tne ancient paleolithic age? Science has placed the mark of disapproval on ibis new and supposed relief from the pangs of motherhood. Several years ago this same scf-ence scf-ence abolished the first chemcal combination that was put forward to relieve mothers. This was known in medical circles as an "A. C. E. solution." The "A. C. E. Solution" was finally final-ly discarded by the medical profee-sion profee-sion as not practical. It was used a short time in many hospitals and there was never a complaint against severe or morbid symptoms resulting result-ing Irom its use. Other than the use of a general anaesthetic when required In exceptional excep-tional cases gave the only hope of relief to suffering mothers. Tho general anaesthetic was used only in severe caser, and then only after long hours of suffering LONG 11(1 ILS NECE8SABY, The American Medical Association, Associa-tion, however, presented cases w hen-it hen-it had no effort in preventing pnln and where It had caused severe physiological symptoms in the mother. moth-er. It told of poisoning to the ua-blea ua-blea and this was held up as Its most objectionable feature The American Medical Association is slow to give its recommendation to any new discovery. dis-covery. It Is composed of ethical practitioners and they do not. wish to place their approval on anything until it has been positively proved a success by long trial. The American Association from the first refused to approve a consumption con-sumption cure that was introdw ed in this country several years ago from France and which later was discredited and proved worthless tn a report of the Cnited States Health I Hjartmeut. So it has always re-lused re-lused to give its approval to new "discoveries' until their value Is proved by constant tests So many "cures" have been discovered tor the many ailments to which mankind man-kind is subject that its course has been proved a wise one Hospitals, however, gave the scopolamine sco-polamine and narkophen a trial At Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago it was tried fairly and impartially. As indicated by the Frleburg method the expectant mothers were placed in noise proof rooms with but little y - wsm jggg ig light burning. At the first symptom they were given an injection of nar-Uophen nar-Uophen and an hour later the sco-polamin" sco-polamin" J)o.m were administered regularly until the birth of the child. Mothers said they felt no pangs t the Jewish Hospital tn New York more than 60 casts were attended by use of the "Twilight Sleep," and at last reports it is still being em-ployed em-ployed there Doctors complain, however, while it Is of aid to the mother It is dangerous dan-gerous to the r hild The new treatment marie an appeal ap-peal all over the world when It was first announced Mothers eery-where eery-where demanded It and to them it gave promise of a solution ot a century old worry and dread Everywhere Every-where they were eager to try it, and everywhere it was at first discovered discov-ered a success But they did not recKon with the problem of (be ef-lects ef-lects on the Infant and the "blue baby." It was charged that the first physicians to report on It. told glowingly glow-ingly of the splendid condition of the mother, but none told of the result re-sult on the Infant. The RritiPT) Medical Society failed to ajiprovs I I its use and this is another of tlM great and ethical bodies of phsl- I cian in the world I Now mothers are still in hopes that science is wrong in Its judg-ment judg-ment and that this new remedy may I yet probe a boon Some doctor I are supporting its use. a reporter ' t for this paper learned, on the theory 1 '-T.:; that the drugs administered are of ' 'J' too great strength to obtain the tie- I sired result. It is nlo declared that they are not sufficiently neu-tralized neu-tralized and freed of impurities to fv' result in an absolute test of their H I rf"'v. I I f"'v |