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Again, for an interesting representation of how medicine was practiced in upper class GB, watch or read The Citadel. I think DA did an excellent job showing a Harley Street doctor and the arrogance. Can you imagine any doctor today saying he guaranteed that the baby and mother would be healthy and survive?
Sad as it was, the Sybil death was educational for audiences pointing out the contrasts of then and now in terms of medical practice and health management. The writers did a good job portraying how people outside of the medical field viewed doctors as powerful demi-Gods. When the doctor started to give an explanation, the family turns away as the terminology is over their heads and of course, when he mentions intimate details such as protein and urine, that is too indelicate to be mentioned aloud - and in mixed company. Anyone who has taken biology in 7th grade within the past 50 years would have had a better understanding of the doctor's explanation than LG or Matthew with their Oxford educations.
Today, we go to the doctor's office with a list of questions after reading about our diseases and prescriptions on 20 different websites. Even before the web, in the post WWII time, we looked up our diagnoses in home physician reference books, read articles about health in Readers Digest and newspapers. Of course, the doctors in DA didn't have to worry about malpractice suits or malpractice insurance either. Doctors in those days, literally got away with murder.
I'll bet that the writers will have Sybil's baby turn out to be perfectly fine, but in real life that baby would be suffering from physical and neurological impairments.
To be honest, that perception hasn't changed that much. Many people still place their doctors on pedestals and don't question their judgment. One of the most common questions to a doctor involves something along the lines of, "If it was your (mother/father/daughter/sister/brother, etc.) what would you do?" Doctors still get away with murder, but Obstetrics is one of those that has the highest liability.
Something that I foresee and will be an issue is Mary's reaction to Sybil's death. If you recall, when Sybil was having the seizures, Mary backed away in fear, I suspect. Plus, the whole foreshadowing with the conversation between Matthew and Sir Phillip. Something to recall and something of great importance is that producing an heir was the first and utmost important responsibility of the heir of the estate. With Matthew as heir and married to Lord Grantham's eldest daughter, the importance of the heir becomes even more important to continued existence of Downton.
I believe that Mary will resist all efforts to get pregnant in the near future and suspect this will cause a rift in her relationship and with her family.
Given that childbirth and pregnancy was still very dangerous then, seeing your sister die before you, with men making the decisions without asking, why wouldn't she be nervous? She might even wonder if she had trouble if dad would repeat his mistake.
That she needs to produce a male heir is still going to stand between them too. She knows the peril of having another girl. And she is much more like her father than Matthew, and even though she *knows* that if they can keep Downton, it will be at the cost of tradition, she's part of the world that Matthew is out to dismantle. The theme of contry gentry vrs Matthew and his mother middle class values is underplayed but one of the most central themes.
And if you were Sir Robert, would you be able to push one daughter into pregnancy, having just lost one to it, knowing in your heart that maybe she died because you screwed up?
And does this push Edith to just go make her own life and if it works for then then good, if not, do it anyway. I see Edith being pushed towards the greater subject of women's rights.
Again, for an interesting representation of how medicine was practiced in upper class GB, watch or read The Citadel. I think DA did an excellent job showing a Harley Street doctor and the arrogance. Can you imagine any doctor today saying he guaranteed that the baby and mother would be healthy and survive?
Sad as it was, the Sybil death was educational for audiences pointing out the contrasts of then and now in terms of medical practice and health management. The writers did a good job portraying how people outside of the medical field viewed doctors as powerful demi-Gods. When the doctor started to give an explanation, the family turns away as the terminology is over their heads and of course, when he mentions intimate details such as protein and urine, that is too indelicate to be mentioned aloud - and in mixed company. Anyone who has taken biology in 7th grade within the past 50 years would have had a better understanding of the doctor's explanation than LG or Matthew with their Oxford educations.
Today, we go to the doctor's office with a list of questions after reading about our diseases and prescriptions on 20 different websites. Even before the web, in the post WWII time, we looked up our diagnoses in home physician reference books, read articles about health in Readers Digest and newspapers. Of course, the doctors in DA didn't have to worry about malpractice suits or malpractice insurance either. Doctors in those days, literally got away with murder.
I'll bet that the writers will have Sybil's baby turn out to be perfectly fine, but in real life that baby would be suffering from physical and neurological impairments.
Good point. Today doctors still seem to expect the god like image and have to deal with the fact their patients can look up anything, and may know more about a med than they do. When you journey back ninety years, medicine was awesome rocket science, not to be shared with the ordinary person. The local doctor, possibly because he deals a lot with Matthew's mom, seems to be more willing to take risks.
The really sad things is the Harley Street doctor really did believe it was safer to let her give birth, despite possible disastor, than deliver by c-section, especially in a village hospital. It was simply beyond his limits to see the rest. That horrible shock when he suddenly knows that he was wrong, and how he can barely speak shows the depth of the mindset. And how the questions were put... could he guarentee if they took her to the hospital that she'd live. No doctor today would be ask that, they'd be asked the chances. Today the family would listen when it was said that her only chance was that, and yet there were no guarentees. If he'd lied and said yes, she'd make it I wonder if it would have made a difference.
And not all doctors are over the god complex. I got rejected as a patient by one who kept telling me the likely side effect of the medicine of his choice were unlikely. I research down to the fda papers and it had a big red check next to it on the FDA paper, as in he hadn't read it. He actually threw a tantrum when I flat out refused it and told him he didn't know what he was talking about.
A friend of mine had toxemia, and with very careful care, she went almost full term. But the little girl was so tiny, though fully formed, she looked like a premie and was always small. When her sister was two she was taller than her three year old sister. This was of course with very close monitoring and multiple hospital stays. There was still no guarentee there would be a live child at the end. No doubt the chances way back then would be even slimmer.
Tom will love and care for his daughter no matter what. I think Cora will too. I wonder if each time Robert sees the baby he'll have to wonder if he'd made a different decision if his daughter would still be there.
To be honest, that perception hasn't changed that much. Many people still place their doctors on pedestals and don't question their judgment. One of the most common questions to a doctor involves something along the lines of, "If it was your (mother/father/daughter/sister/brother, etc.) what would you do?" Doctors still get away with murder, but Obstetrics is one of those that has the highest liability.
Just choose not to take a med and defend your choice and a whole chours comes up saying but trust your doctor. Anybody can do research if they are willing. Then you know the right questions to ask.
It doesn't help that phama advertises just what you need on tv and everyone is always happy and smiling in the ads.
The truth is that even today, a woman is placing life on the line with a pregnancy, even if the chances are far better for surviving.
I think if I were Mary I would be scared stiff watching my sister die after childbirth about giving birth myself yet I believe she yearns for a child. I certainly hope she would not to let her father have any say whatsoever in her pregnancy. If she chooses to go to a hospital when the time comes, Lord Grantham needs to keep quiet. I actually would not put it past him, though, even after what happened to Sybil, to insist that Mary also have her baby at Downton.
I think Edith is leaning towards a career because she feels she has no other choice. There just do not seem to be any eligible men left to marry. Lord Grantham seems to prefer her to stay home and do nothing than find something meanful to do. Lord Grantham is just so stuck in a different era, it's just stiffling to watch him. How can he not see that if Edith doesn't find something to do, she will be miserable for the rest of her life? I think even The Dowager can see this.
I think if I were Mary I would be scared stiff watching my sister die after childbirth about giving birth myself yet I believe she yearns for a child. I certainly hope she would not to let her father have any say whatsoever in her pregnancy. If she chooses to go to a hospital when the time comes, Lord Grantham needs to keep quiet. I actually would not put it past him, though, even after what happened to Sybil, to insist that Mary also have her baby at Downton.
I think Edith is leaning towards a career because she feels she has no other choice. There just do not seem to be any eligible men left to marry. Lord Grantham seems to prefer her to stay home and do nothing than find something meanful to do. Lord Grantham is just so stuck in a different era, it's just stiffling to watch him. How can he not see that if Edith doesn't find something to do, she will be miserable for the rest of her life? I think even The Dowager can see this.
I think if Mary was pregnant, she would make her own choices now. Her mother and Matthew would back her up. The tide of authority has already shifted. I don't think that Cora would even have to remind him about Sybil. But the sheer fear of something happening would be very hard, and if its stressful enough, could make it hard to get pregnant.
One thing the old school doctor was right about was the 'anxious' warning.
The Dowager actually suggested that Edith look for a carrear and use her mind. The irony of being a dowager is in her old age, she is listened to. She can say what she wants now. I wonder if she'd been there is she would have overruled her son.
But Edith's silver lining is that the world was changing, even if much of her class wasn't going to appreciate the changes. The social limits were changing. As a woman with a carrear, she could find a new kind of respect and a new kind of relationship as well. I do hope she accepts the offer for the newspaper column.
I think Edith is going to blossom and good for her...leave all the stuffed shirts behind. I am liking her new found spunk. Same with Mrs. Crawley... love her.
I don't seeh how Mary could refuse to produce a heir since that whole lifestyle is what she's all about. that would be a huge break with who she is. Unless they are using that as a plot device to move her into a more progressive open minded role. Or just continue to deepen her character's self-indulgent hypocrisy.
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