Assessing the Comparability of Mortality Statistics

A woman aged 29 had an uneventful antenatal period and was admitted in the first stage of labour on her expected date of confinement. Foetal movements had ceased early in labour, and on her admission six and a half hours before delivery no foetal heart was heard. The cervix was dilated three fingerbreadths and no cord was felt. Labour lasted 14 hours and the patient was delivered of a female stillborn infant weighing 6 lb. 4--> -<-->4 | 12 oz. (3,060 g.). The cord was coiled loosely once round the baby's neck and showed a swelling 5 cm. long near the umbilicus (see Fig.). * ~~Again necropsy showed the swelling to be a haematoma associated with rupture of the umbilical vein, and again the aetiology was obscure. The patient has since had two normal children.