Genealogy Chat

Oh Karen the poor man!

Has anyone found a history of the same or similar cause of death running in the family going way back?

Not so much a strange one, but one which is going to make the men go 'ouch'...
..my g.g.grandfather died of scrotal gangrene.

eeeeeuwwwww.
K

Pueperal fever was very common before antiseptic conditions were the rule.
Many women died from this until drs. and midwives could be persuaded to wash their hands and use clean instruments and materials. A Dr Semmelweis did an enormous amount to make handwashing etc. the normal practice, I think it was in a hospital in Vienna. Read an interesting book about it many years ago and can't remember the title. So possibly the pueperal mania referred to actually may mean severe bloodpoisoning fever and mind-wandering, not postnatal depresssion, although it could do.
Lets hope those days don't come back with all the mrsa etc.
Eileen

thats interesting, as we received a death cert yesterday which had cause of death "puerperal mania".
Found that puerperal means post-childbirth, (the child survived in this case) and the death of the mother was a few months later, but I was thinking, post-natal depression etc doesn't usually kill you, but I suppose if she did have a psychotic episode, and as you say, there weren't the sedatives etc, perhaps she could have got in such a state as to cause a heart failure of something.

Thanks for that information Bee, interesting.

Hi G C Girl,

'Exhaution from mania' -

This would be referring to someone who was suffering from mania, a serious mental disorder where the person is overactive in the extreme, racing about constantly, unable to rest and sometimes not even to drink or eat. They would certainly become exhausted, and ultimately their heart would stop.

So although it does sound strange, without the effective treatments and sedation we have now, in those days many manic patients would have sucumbed in this way.

Bee.

Have you come across any strange ones while doing your tree?

I discovered yesterday the cause of death for my GG Gran was 'Exhaustion from mania'. Never come across that one before!