Mrs Stone and Dr Smellie: British eighteenth century birth attendance and long-run levels and trends in maternal mortality discussed in a north European context

TY - JOUR

T1 - Mrs Stone and Dr Smellie: British eighteenth century birth attendance and long-run levels and trends in maternal mortality discussed in a north European context

AU - Løkke, Anne

PY - 2018/3/1

Y1 - 2018/3/1

N2 - This is a book review turned research paper. The aim is to estimate the differences in the maternal mortality rate (MMR) between untrained midwives, expert midwives, and the famous obstetrician Dr Smellie in eighteenth-century Britain. The paper shows that the birth attendance practices of the expert midwife Mrs Stone and of Dr Smellie were very similar, though Stone used her hands whereas Smellie used forceps. Both applied the same invasive techniques to successfully deliver women with similar fatal complications, techniques that untrained midwives and most surgeons of the time could not perform. However, the same procedures, if used for normal births, would have increased the MMR. So, the key to the low MMR of both was that they kept interventions away from the majority of births that were normal. The paper quantifies the likely MMR for a 'Stone and Smellie style' birth attendance and concludes that the wider dissemination of their techniques can explain the decline in the British MMR.

AB - This is a book review turned research paper. The aim is to estimate the differences in the maternal mortality rate (MMR) between untrained midwives, expert midwives, and the famous obstetrician Dr Smellie in eighteenth-century Britain. The paper shows that the birth attendance practices of the expert midwife Mrs Stone and of Dr Smellie were very similar, though Stone used her hands whereas Smellie used forceps. Both applied the same invasive techniques to successfully deliver women with similar fatal complications, techniques that untrained midwives and most surgeons of the time could not perform. However, the same procedures, if used for normal births, would have increased the MMR. So, the key to the low MMR of both was that they kept interventions away from the majority of births that were normal. The paper quantifies the likely MMR for a 'Stone and Smellie style' birth attendance and concludes that the wider dissemination of their techniques can explain the decline in the British MMR.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - maternal mortality, normal birth, abnormal birth, forceps, history of obstetrics, history of midwifery

U2 - 10.1080/00324728.2017.1415036

DO - 10.1080/00324728.2017.1415036

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29357758

SN - 0032-4728

VL - 72

SP - 123

EP - 136

JO - Population Studies

JF - Population Studies

IS - 1

ER -