The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-10-21
TWILIGHT sLEEP''DOEs
NOT FIND FAVOR HERE
Physicians Skeptical as to Value
49, of New Plan fer Child.
Bearing Cases.
HOSPITALS AWAIT RESULTS
Drug Chiefly Used Was Tried Here
Years Ago, but Was Discarded on
Account of Danger to Mother and
Child.

Child.
The twilight sleep" method for child
bearing cases, originated at Freiburg,
Germany, and now being tried In hos
4 pitals in New York and Baltimore, has
not been tested in any of the Richmond
hospitals. and may never be attempted
here, unless II becomes more generally
recognized by the medical profession at
large Several physicians here inter-
viewed on the subject are outspokenly
skeptical as to the value OF the treat
inent. and some say II VIII go the way
of the much advertised radium cure and
the new serum for the cure OF tubercu-
losis, which set the medical profession
by the ears few years ago.
Scopolamine. the drug chiefly used
In producing the twilight sleep" was
used rather sporadically here some
-ears ago. but was discarded because
of the greater risk to both mother and
child attaching to It's injection. 1t was
s. found that when scopolamine had been
used IL became more frequently ncccs-
sary to employ artificial means for de-
8 livery, n means that physicians try to
avoid. Ether, chloroform and morphine
are.the drugs commonly used in OBJ
stetric cases, and, as they have been
found to be eminently successful, the
Y local physicians at least, are content
Y to let well enough alone.
WILL WAIT UNTIL
IT'S WORTH IS PROVEN
One hospital official. who has received
. ieSperience in New York hospitals, said
s. trRTAhe knew nothing about the new
n treatment and he did not believe that 1t
would be generally taken up here un-
less 1t had been well tried and proven
in the larger hospitals Of the country.
So far as the establishing of quiet
Ii,sy l,n f,nf inn h
y ing inf 'enccs is concerned, that Is the
general practice of all obstetricians.
and there Is nothing new in this part
!: of the treatment. All physicians try
TO induce in their prospective patients
calmness of mind, pleasant thought and
freedom from MI worry and care with
& out going to the extent of inducing any
sort OF sleep except, perhaps. just be-
fort the crucial period arrives or &c
other times when the use of some drug
is found necessary. Set
Dr.. McCaw Tompllins said yesterday
Z that. scopolaminc was tried here several
years ago, but had not been put into
general use because physicians regard
cd 1t as too dangerous for both mother
and child. Since 1906 he said that it
3 had been generally discarded by the
medical profession, and he thought
there was no likelihood that It's use
would be returned to unless others cX-
periencc proved that 1t is Rs enlcacious
as is now being claimed for 1t.
EXPERIMENTS BEING; MADE
IN NEW YORK HOSPITALS
However. the twilight sleep" method
is being tried In New York and Ealti-
more, and several physicians of wide
renown are advocating that it be put
into general practice in the hospitals.
DIR. William H. Wellington knipc.
adjunct professor at the New York
s POSTGRADUATE Hospital Medical School
and Hospital and attending the Gou-
verneur Hospital, in an article III The
Modern Hospital" says that the "twi-
light sleep" method, If II be carried ont
strictly according TO the FreiburG tech
nique. Is bound TO become the method
( OF the future.
After describing the method of In
ducing the twilight sleep'-frcquently
described before In magazine and press
he says:
Besides quiet, means must be used
to obtain darkness. 1T is not neces-
sary that this should be intense, but
all care should he used to prevent the
entrance of bright light. AT Freiburg
the ward opens Gil II courtyard. with
trees about, and by the use of Vene-
tian blinds the room is kept relatively
dark. During the induction OF the
twilight sleep the patient is kept in bed,
ana. inasmuch as the process consumes
several hours, 1t Is impossible to keep
the patient on hard operating table
all this while. At FreiburE the room
! contains three beds. and 1t is in these
beds that the women are delivered, the
Z operating table being used only for
those cases requiring operative inter-
ference. Each bed is screened from its
neighbor by curtains of muslin, and the
rest Of the room Is like an ordinary
Z operating room with the regulation
aseptic furniture, sterile rcceptaclas.
and instrument trays. :.
REQUIRES ATTENDANCE
OF SPECIAL NURSE
las the proper induction of twilight
sleep requires the constant attendance
of Il trained physician or trained nurse.
the management at Freiburg secures
Intelligent nurses and trains them in
CHS method, and they are used in the
: opcratinS-room and nowhere else. Be
y fore being placed in charge OF Il case
the nurse must have ut least four
! months experience as assistant.
THE nurse examines the heart every
fifteen minutes, tests the patients va
rious rcteXes and gives the injections
accordingly, subject. OF course. to the
instructions of the physician. who reg
ularly calls every hour to examine the
patient. These nurses at Freiburc
who have had this special training for
a long time, become particularly ex-
pert, and II will become necessary for
us in America to take especially intel
ligent nurses, who are Interested in
this work, and train them In this par
ticular method"
The drugs used are scopolamine
hydrobromic and some ono of the NOR
/, phine NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. morphine
Hmuriate or narcophin or pantopOn.
DIR. Knipe admits that he went to
4 F&etburg "A skepiic and returned Il con-
vert and the editor OF THE Modern
i Hospital while criticizinE Drs. kro-
mig and Gauss, Of FreiburR. for MAX
q ing known the results OF their work
through popular magazine. says that
& DR. Knipe's position in this country is
too we'll known for anything that he
( says TO be ignored.
II 4 m IVA