Death In Advanced Tetanus.. Intra-Uterine Foetal Death.. Emergency Caesarean Section

May 9th

We lost the patient with advanced Tetanus. She died yesterday; so sad.

Tetanus. Quite a deadly disease when treatment is delayed and the disease is at the advanced stage. The causative organism is a bacterium, Clostridium Tetani, that abounds in the soil and found in rusted iron. Apparently, the poor woman had had a locally done pedicure to her foot that resulted later into an infected wound. This would be the obvious source of entry into her system, of the deadly bacterium.

Today also, we sadly lost a baby just before birth, and during labour. The cause of death can only be speculated here at best and its determination is subject to the degree to which intra-partum foetal monitoring and management is carried out at our centre. So, to what degree is intra-partum foetal monitoring and management carried out in this hospital where I work, you may well ask. I would say without elaborating in detail, that the standards could much be improved upon.

We averted another possible intra-uterine death through the intervention of an emergency Caesarean Section that I performed, with the surgical instruments barely sterilized!

Really bad week.

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