A.A.O.G.A.S.

A. A. O. G. A. S.

About 125 specialists met at Memphis, Tenn., last week to discuss obstetrics, gynecology and abdominal surgery.

Maternal Mortality. Their greatest concern was the fact that the U. S., whose women pay the highest medical fees in the world and therefore presumably get the best care, has the highest maternal mortality rate among civilized nations. For every 2,000 children born alive in the U. S. 13 mothers die. The rate per thousand is in England & Wales 3.8; Scotland 5.8; Germany 5.3; Italy 2.7; Scandinavian countries 2.6; Holland 2.3 (the lowest). Of U. S. maternal deaths, 65% are due to blood-poisoning contracted at the time of delivery or immediately after. Other mortal causes include lack of prenatal care. poor home conditions, general ill-health. Dr. Edward Joseph Hill of Newark, N. J.. tried to introduce the claim of Dean Henry Hurd Rusby of Columbia's Department of Pharmacy that rotten ergot causes many of these deaths (TIME, July 22). The American Association of Obstetricians, Gynecologists & Abdominal Surgeons (formal name of the Memphis conferees) assigned the topic to a special investigating committee.

Birth Control is "the most dangerous subject on which the medical profession can express itself," Association President George Van Amber Brown dared to state. Honest, he repeated the popularly known fact that educated U. S. men and women generally know effective means of contraception. He urged birth-control knowledge for uneducated people. Professor Everett Dudley Plass of the University of Iowa would have the state do the educating. Said he: "Only one argument exists against teaching birth control and that is the possibility of its leading to sexual promiscuity. But that argument grows weaker daily, for men and women are daily growing more promiscuous anyway." The American Birth Control League has called for a first national conference on birth control, "to consider its social, moral, religious, economic and legal aspects." Place: Manhattan. Time: Nov. 18.

Prenatal Influences. The only prenatal influence which a mother has on her child is her own mental and physical wellbeing, emphasized Chattanooga's (Okla.) George E. Kerr and Oakland's David Hadden. They scoffed at superstitions having to do with snakes, spiders, rats, strawberries, gruesome scenes. Any mark a child bears is due to the thickening of its epidermis, a condition originating in its own cells.

High Cost of Babies is curtailing size of U. S. families, commented Providence's John William Keefe, He would improve the midwife qualifications of general practitioners and have community hospitals lower their maternity ward charges.

New President of the A. A. O. G. A. S. is Edgar Albert Van Der Veer of Albany, N. Y. Next meeting: Niagara Falls.