The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-01-04
PULMONARY EDEMA 2.

If you attended the autopsy we performed in this column the other day you will remember the subject was q gaunt, taciturn gentleman who had been ai1ing for four years with stomach and liver trouble, coIitis and anemia. The final fade out had been by the hypostatic pneumonia or pulmonary edemal. according to the green ticket the gentleman wore Chen he arrived at our laboratory.
 We explained that hypostatlc "pneum monia" is misnomer, for the condition is not inflammation of the lung at all, but merely congestion, settling of blood in the lowest parts of chest and lungs, from general exhaustion and especially failure of the circulation, the heart. This Is q common terminal condition in many prolonged illnesses. Indeed. hypostatic congestion of the lungs is never accented as 6 cause of death; tho health authorities insist on entering the primary or direct cause of death in the certificate.
 It seems that one doctor char acterized the fade out us hyposta- tic pneumonia" and another ds pulmonary edcna," So the ap- parent conflict of medical opinion got the poor gentIeman's widow all upset and she packed up the body and shipped 1t to this column for pathological examination. Or rather she just wrote and told the old duffer who conducts this column all about it, as she understood 1t, and asked him to tell her what's what.
 No matter whether tho terminal condition was hypostatic congestion or edema--it carried the geDtle- man to his reward in just two hours and aside from some distress of which he complained soreness first in the hypogastrium eff you've ever travelled south of the equator. and later in the hypochondrium (which I think shall leave you to find for yourseIf--and you may as well no- tice while you're looking it up that the word, for some inscrutable rea- son, is pronounced hip-o, while in hypogastrium 1t is as 1t should be just little catch to make dict ionaries sell, l suppose). Anyway hypostatic congestion of the lungs or pulmonary edema is not q bad way to go. In either case the com sciousness soon becomes obtundod and the victim does not suffer nor struggle, just drifts off to oblivion. The lab0red breathing, perhaps in Cheyne-Stokes rhythm or type. perhaps stertorous, to the contrary notwithstanding.
 Well hate to admit 1t, both doc tors were right, or near enough so that the difference of terms doesn't matter. Edema of tho lungs means that, ns q. consequence of cOnges- ton, serum exudes from the over- filled blood vessels into tho lung tissue and Into the air cells. More or less edma accompanies hyposta- tic congestion. The symptoms pro. duced and tho signs the doctor eIiciss by examination. are praotk caIly Identical in hypostatlc con. Kestion and Co pulmonary edema. Tho primary causes are the same, and treatment is the same, SO far as ! know. So it is immateriai whether the condition be- called pulmonary edema or hypostatio Iiut we ought 10 eensurs tho doctor who called it hyp0siatle "pneDmOnln," The implied Intent Of that js iO Avade stating the primary cause of daafh.
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