Tuam mother and baby home: the trouble with the septic tank story

[struggle4progress]

134. Regarding maternal death rates at the Tuam home:

I cited statistics for maternal death rates of 4% - 5% in Ireland 1925-1930, and I noted this was comparable to rates in New Zealand at the time. New Zealand around 1930 examined its high maternal death rate, concluded the major cause was puerperal sepsis, and made an effort to educate medical personnel about the need for careful hygiene in deliveries, with the result that the maternal death rate plummeted. There is probably a comparable improvement in maternal death rates in much of the Western world in the first half of the twentieth century

Press reports indicate Catherine Corless' records search located four public records of deaths of mothers at the home. I do not know when the women died or of what causes. If you can find better information on the matter, feel free to provide it. In this thread is a link indicating that in 1932 there were 135 children in the home; from 1925-1931, there are 111 child death records, so by 1932 there may have been something like 246 births in the home, which (if one expected a maternal death rate of 4% - 5%) would suggest 10 - 12 maternal deaths. If maternal deaths are below the national average in the early years of the facility, a likely interpretation is that puerperal sepsis is uncommon, indicating better than average hygiene