Case of complex labor : with remarks, etc. / reported by Gustavus L. Simmons.

  • Simmons, Gustavus L. (Gustavus Lincoln), 1832-1910.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of complex labor : with remarks, etc. / reported by Gustavus L. Simmons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    12/38
    Tinct. Assafoetida, one dram ; after which patient had no pain and but little hiccuping. Oct. 3d, A. M. patient slightly delirious; sees green trees and hears music; pulse very feeble, with cold extremities; has had no pain or nausea since 4 A. M., when the matter ejected had a bad odor. Drs. Phelan and Ellis were called as counsel. After the consulta- tion, a recipe of hydrarg. chlor. mit. grs. iii, quin. sulph. grs. i, was ordered to be given in the form of a pill every hour. Soon after administering this the nausea returned, and quantities of dark foetid matter were vomited. From this time until five o'clock of the fourth, the patient gradually sunk, evincing towards the last great restless- ness, oppression, and at times total unconsciousness. The treatment was continued to the end, and during the last twelve hours nourish- ing injections were freely administered. AUTOPSY. Tirrnf,, hours post mortem.— Present—Drs. Brown, Phelan, Morse and Simmons. Owing to a variety of circumstances the autopsy was necessarily hurried and brief. The only points examined were the situation and extent of the laceration, and the location of the placenta. No one present noticed the bony structure of the pelvis, its diameters, line or protuberances. As the Attending Physician, I exposed the peri- toneal cavity, which was greatly distended and contained some fluid; and to expedite the examination requested one of the gentlemen present to assist me in detaching the uterus and superior portion of the vagina from its connections. Dr. Brown kindly offered his serv- ices, and severed the attachments. The uterus was low down in the pelvis, and upon raising its left posterior aspect, the left superior lateral wall of the vagina was dis- closed in a state of gangrene, and a transverse laceration of the pos- terior vaginal connection with the uterus discovered. The rent was surrounded by gangrene, and three fingers passed from the vulva up- ward were made to enter it, and appear in the cavity of the belly. The breadth of this number of fingers was supposed to be the extent of the laceration, as they encroached upon its sides. The womb was observed to be flaccid, and feeling as if there was a vacuity within