Pt. I. Physicians and the pain of childbirth. 1. "The head of Jove and the body of Bacchus" : James Young Simpson and the beginning of obstetric anesthesia -- "A cup of Circe" : The opposition to obstetric anesthesia -- 3. "Bled, leeched, salivated" :The transformation of medical practice by science -- 4. "The queen in her confinement" : John Snow's approach to anesthesia -- 5. "The tender organization of the newborn" : Balancing the risks of pain and anesthesia -- pt. II. Women and the pain of childbirth. 6. "The sin of our first parents" : The social connotations of pain -- 7. "This blessed chloroform" : Pain as biological and anesthesia as necessary -- 8. "There ought to be no pain" : The American women's campaign for twilight sleep -- 9. "Labor is pathogenic" : The national birthday trust fund campaign in Great Britain -- 10. "As God intended" : Grantly Dick Read and the natural childbirth movement -- pt. III. In the delivery room: physicians and women together. 11. "Pain makes things valuable" : The danger of drugs and the social value of pain -- 12. "The greatest misery of sickness is solitude" : Current controversy
Summary
"This book describes in fascinating detail the history of the use of anesthesia in childbirth and in so doing offers a unique perspective on the interaction between medical science and social values. Dr. Donald Caton traces the responses of physicians and their patients to the pain of childbirth from the popularization of anesthesia to the natural childbirth movement and beyond. He finds that physicians discovered what could be done to manage pain, and patients decided what would be done."--Jacket
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-277) and index
