MATERNAL MORTALITY.

Shannon News, 24 June 1924, Page 3

MATERNAL MORTALITY.

(To the Editor). Sir,—l read with interest a letter in your paper signed "A Medical Practitioner, who is also a Mother"—that is a mother in a comfortable position in life— and she evidently speaks for her own class. The. working man's wile is another question. The correspondent blames, St. Helens for filling the surgical wards of our '"hospitals, but the truth is no woman is allowed to leave a St. Helens Hospital under a fortnight and not fflien if there is! the slightest liltUa thing wrong. Lots of private hospitals .allow their patients to go on the tenth day. ,At St. Helens a woman receives every care and attention—good food, thorough rest, and the matron, sister and staff nurees are fully qualified. One and sometimes all of .whom attend the confinement besides the nnlrses in attendance. If any patient has a complaint to make of the St. Helens treatment, She-is-.very hard to please. I have never yet heard a patient complain of the pain of having stitches, without an anaesthetic. I speak from practical experience as 1 have had five children all born at St. Helens, Wellington, and my advice to expectant mothers is "Go to St. Helens." The charge i« £1 10s per week, including everything, and medical i attendance if necessary. A woman in a comfortable position, of course, can ■ take every care of herself during pregnancy. What of t)he mother of an already large family—one who has to clean, sew, mend, and dam from daylight till dark, sometimes with insufficient food and clothing. Those are the women who look forward with a sickening dread to the hour of delivery. If it were not for the St. HeIJens Hospltjafe fhs percentage! ot dearths among this class of women would be much higher. I am, etc., A VERY GRATEFUL EX-PATIENT AND, A MOTHER OF FIVE.