Would giving ETHER to a pregnant woman in labor cause a birth defect?
It’s possible that the ether could ‘slow down’ the mother and make her woozy (as we medics say) and therefore less able to push; which could mean that a foetus in distress that nowadays would be hastened on its journey into the world (if necessary by Caesarian section) could sustain brain damage through lack of oxygen. However, before one could be certain about making any direct attribution of ill-effect to the administration of ether, there are other factors to consider. One is that in the 1950s there was no foetal monitoring as we know it today, so that early signs of distress might go unnoticed. Another is the birth position adopted at the time: typically, the woman was made to give birth wearing stirrups (convenient for the examining doctors, much less so for the mother and baby, and again likely to slow down the progress of labour). Another difficulty in comparing birth then and now is the advice given to the mother nowadays about smoking and drinking etc., during pregnancy – non-
