Monday, September 24, 1979
Birthing room group seeks data to be used in LMH safety study
3
University Daily Kansan
By ANN LANGENFELD
Staff Reporter
A group supporting the installation of a bath room at Lawrence Memorial Hospital has requested that the hospital records the medical staff will be using answer questions about bathing room conditions.
Chris Petr, president of the Lawrence Association of Parents and Professionals for Safe Alternatives in Childbirth, said yesterday that his group questioned the safety of a baby room and prove that standard delivery room procedures were safer than a birthing room.
However, some of the requested information cannot be released because of security concerns related to the identity of individual patients. Bob Campbell, director of community relations at the hospital, said
THE RESTRICTED information con-
served in the publication that has occur-
ned from the collection may be
anesthesia, and from the inducement
of labor and the prolonging labor. Campbell
The information Petr's group has enquired about the number of births of the number of live births, deaths and their causes and the number of maternal deaths and their causes at the number of deaths.
A birthing room would be an alternative to a standard delivery room. It would be decorated in a homelike atmosphere with a cushion and pillows. The father could be present at the birth.
To get such information, individual patient's records would have to be checked, he said.
Pet said his group thought the use of the hospital statistics would "show that birthing rooms are just as safe, if not safer than standard delivery rooms."
He said he thought that all the information should be made available because the group only was interested in statistics and not personal information.
The birthing room, which was to have been installed next month, was delayed by the hospital medical staff last month when members of the staff raised questions about
Last week the hospital board of trustees directed the medical staff to study the safety issue and to reconsider its position within the next 90 days.
PETR SAID his group would like to work with the medical staff in studying the safety question. They have not been asked to be involved, he said.
The group, which will meet tomorrow night for its regular monthly meeting, will discuss the birthing room issue, he said.
Pet said he thought the safety issue was a "smoke screen" being used by the medical staff to cover up a conflict of philosophy.
He said, "We're not so concerned about the extension of the philosophy but that the normal process and should not be intervened with by such things as the use of
Garry D. Owen, a gynecologist and obstetrician who opposes a birthing room, said, those who have said it was a question of philosophy are "ill-informed."
"The whole direction of obstetrics is to prevent complications," he said. "Why would anyone want less than that?"
He said complications such as extra blood loss by the mother and tears to the birth canal were quite frequent and required the care of a nurse available in a standard delivery room.
The complications caused by prolonged heat that develop in patients with the sickle cell situation, he said, are not an easily determined. He said prolonged labor could harm the mental or motor abilities of the patient.
He said there were no political or economic reasons to oppose a birthing room.
"It is a question of good medicine," he said.
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Rubble still hides fire's cause
By MARK SPENCER Staff Reporter
The cause of the fire that ravaged two downtown buildings on the east side of the building, which was buried under rubble, as the Douglas County aunt squand off officially ended its run.
The squad, which was activated at 3 a.m. the morning of the fire, was legally authorized to work if no progress was made in the installation, Lt. Larry Sermerman, said yesterday. Sermerman, assisted by two or three other volunteers, will continue to investigate the fire.
It could be several weeks before a cause can be determined, he said.
The investigation has been delayed by the condition of the fire scene. One of the buildings destroyed by the fire, at 768, was closed and condemned by the city several months ago.
"We were hampered a great deal by the unsafe conditions." Stemmerman said. "We aren't really where we need to be.
THE SQUAD determined, largely as a result of interviews with witnesses, that the fire probably began in the back of the basement of 706 Massachusetts St.
"This is the worst fire scene we've had. There's so much destruction. Where we need to look is covered with debris."
The insurance company for the owners of the building, which formerly housed BH Building Materials, Manufacturing Co., the building was a total loss. Design Build Architects, Build BH.
The structure north of Burk Awning at 708-710 Massachusetts St., which housed a big, Bik $'s, Freeman Real Estate, and Public Hanging, also was destroyed.
Loss from the fire is now estimated at $201,000, according to fire officials...
STEMMERMAN SAID the basement areas of the buildings were covered with the ruins of three floors from one building, which included a terrace, rubble, cement from the old buildings had mixed with water and had disintegrated into sand, creating a substance like sand.
Investigators said they hoped to get into the basement area today.
STEMMERMAN SAID they would use a variety of tools, including a hydrocarbon
vapor sniffer will be used to detect flammable materials that may cause a burn to reveal burn patterns. Any samples collected at the scene will be sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation laboratory for analysis.
Sometimes it is impossible to determine the cause of a fire, Stemmerman said. In such a case, you must avoid jeopardizing later incidents in court cases, the cause is not listed, he said.
Arson has one of the lowest clearance rates of any major crime because of the difficulty in determining the cause, he said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reclassified arson a class I crime in 1978 and added the criminal occurrence of the crime. It was that the Bureau had been added to that category since 1928.
There have been 17 confirmed arsons this year. Six have been cleared by arrests, many involving juveniles, he said.
The most recent major arson in Lawrence occurred in a warehouse north of the downtown area, near the Kaw River from that fire was estimated at $7,000.
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