View report page

70
Puerperal Fever was the registered cause of 26 deaths, all
but 5 in the Town sub-district. Seven of the deaths were of
women between 15 and 25 years of age, 14 between 25 and
35, and 5 between 35 and 45. In addition to these 26 deaths,
3 deaths, two of them in the Town sub-district, were
registered as having occurred in "childbirth," as against 9 in
1882. The distinction between these two classes of cases is,
that whilst puerperal fever is a specific and communicable
disease; deaths registered as caused by childbirth simply,
are, so to say, accidental, a common cause being haemorrhage
("flooding"). The total deaths registered as having been
caused by the diseases and accidents associated with
parturition, 29, (10 more than in 1882, and 15 more than
in 1881), were equal to 0.68 per cent. on registered live
births.
[Among the deaths from Puerperal Fever there were three
in the practice of a midwife. One took place at St. Mary's
Hospital after a horrible illness extending over three months;
the other two had been previously registered within a few
days of one another, upon the certificates of two medical
men who had been called in by the midwife; each, however,
being in ignorance of what had taken place in the practice
of the other. These medical gentlemen discontinued midwifery
practice for many weeks through fear of spreading
the disease, and each cautioned the midwife to do the same,
but she did not. A fourth case occurred in her practice; it
did not prove fatal, but the victim passed through a long
and serious illness. The occurrences above referred to did
not come to my knowledge till after the death and burial of
the two first cases. I lost no time in calling upon the midwife
and putting a stop to her practice. When the third
death took place, and the body having been removed from
St. Mary's Hospital to the previous residence of the deceased
in this parish, I reported the particulars to the Coroner,
who held an inquest, and the jury returned a verdict of
manslaughter against the midwife, who was subsequently