Stillbirth and child mortality.....

Post by **joette** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:02 pm

David W- couldn't have put it better myself.When you seek out your family & you see swathes of children dying from enteritis,teething fever etc you know that many of these deaths could have been prevented if only there had been better sanitation & clean water.Fresh air- do you remember pre-smokeless zones & the pea-soupers that would come down.?
As my Mother is suffering the legacy of Asbestos from her days in the Singer Factory & it is hard not to feel bitterness towards Governments,Doctors & Companies who put profits before the safety & health of their workers.One of the biggest cover-ups & scandals of the Twenthy Century!!!!
Even nowadays your life expectancy is lengthened if you have an above average income.
Russell couldn't have put it better myself.I can remember a patient being told that at"least you didn't have it long enough to love it "
I was young,single & childless but I remember the indignation & pain I felt for this Mum who had just lost a baby eight months into her pregnancy.
Or a Birth Mother being told when handing her child over for adoption"Never mind you can have a real baby one day."
IGNORANCE.So glad you could educate those Midwives.

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:42 pm

Joette

What was heartening was that it was the Midwives who had demanded the talk!!!

Russell

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:13 am

DavidWW wrote:I was involved in a forward trace recently, starting from a family of 11 wains in the 1830s/1850s.

8 died in infancy, and 1, single, in her 20s.

Of the two sons who survived, one appeared to have had no children from his marriage, and the other had 10, but 4 died in infancy.

In fact, there are some experts who argue that while there have indeed been many tremendous medical breakthroughs in the last century or so, the more important ones in terms of our health and the massive decreases in infant mortality are due to clean water and good sanitation, along with greatly improved living conditions, - e.g. that family with 11 wains lived in a "single end", - a one room apartment..........

I've just seen an interview with an archaeologist who was discussing research done on updug bones from the past thousand years. "If you made it to adulthood, then you were extremely lucky to get past forty". Here am I, pushing sixty, after undergoing appendectomy and meningitis, siring two great wains.

What would Darwin have said?

Thrall

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:53 am

Hi Thrall
I'd agree there are certainly many among us who would not be here now but for modern medicine, myself among them - I've certainly had two near misses when, had I been around 100 years ago instead of now, I would most certainly not have made it. It is very sobering to find a death entry of a woman dying at age 41 in 1908 of exactly the same illness whch would have "done for" me at the same age...and there must be many people around today who are in the same situation.

...And when I look at the causes of deaths of many of the children in my tree I can only be thankful that I live in an age following the advent of anti-biotics.

As for Darwin, I think we now live in an age of "natural selection" with a bit of a helping hand!

Best wishes
Lesley

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:44 pm

lbathgate wrote:
As for Darwin, I think we now live in an age of "natural selection" with a bit of a helping hand!

And lets not forget the awards, though don´t keek if your feeling depressed! You have been warned........

<http://www.darwinawards.com/> Sorry about the thread drift.

Orraverybest,

Thrall

Post by **joette** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 6:11 pm

Thrall wrote:And lets not forget the awards, though don´t keek if your feeling depressed! You have been warned........
http://www.darwinawards.com/ Sorry about the thread drift.

Orraverybest,

Thrall

Well I nearlly gave" myself a rupture" (an old saying of my Grans.) laughing.Is it possible that people are so stupid? Yes when I think of some of the stupid things I have done but luckily I have a guardian angel who looks out for me!

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 8:07 pm

joette wrote:
Thrall wrote:And lets not forget the awards, though don´t keek if your feeling depressed! You have been warned........
http://www.darwinawards.com/ Sorry about the thread drift.

Orraverybest,

Thrall
Well I nearlly gave" myself a rupture" (an old saying of my Grans.) laughing.Is it possible that people are so stupid? Yes when I think of some of the stupid things I have done but luckily I have a guardian angel who looks out for me!

The Darwin Awards are an annual necessity, - featured every year in New Scientist which I've read since the mid 1950s

David