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-   -   What do you make of this cause of death? (http://genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=28711)

Nell 02-05-20 12:01

What do you make of this cause of death?
 
My 2 x great aunt Florence Purvey, who died in 1893.

Death cert says:

"died from shock to the system caused by perforation of the stomach and accelerated by congestion of the lungs"

Newspaper report:
"At an inquest held at Woodmancote, North Cerney, on the body of Florence Purvey, aged 13, who died rather suddenly, the medical evidence ,,, death was due to perforation of the stomach, caused by the gases generated by onion broth taken for supper".

Inquest evidence given by Emily Purvey (Florence's stepmother) was that Emily had onion broth and went to bed at 8.30 but woke at 1.00 crying with pain. Emily gave her brandy and cold tea, and later called her husband and a neighbour, Priscilla Gegg. Her husband summoned the doctor, William Doughty of Rendcombe and Florence died in his presence. He felt unable to issue a death certificate as he couldn't ascertain cause of death.

He performed a post mortem and found Florence had congestion of the lungs and a perforated stomach which he attributed to its being irritated by raisin stones.

Raisin stones? In onion broth? Perforated stomach caused by gases? Your thoughts please.

kiterunner 02-05-20 12:18

Healthline website says:

What are the causes of gastrointestinal perforation?

Illnesses can cause GP, including:

appendicitis, which is more common among older persons
diverticulitis, which is a digestive disease
a stomach ulcer
gallstones
gallbladder infection
inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, which is less common
inflamed Meckel’s diverticulum, which is a congenital abnormality of the small intestine that’s similar to the appendix
cancer in the gastrointestinal tract

The condition may also be due to:

blunt trauma to the abdomen
a knife or gunshot wound to the abdomen
abdominal surgery
stomach ulcers due to taking aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and steroids (more common in older adults)
ingestion of foreign objects or caustic substances


Nothing about raisin stones, unless they count as "foreign objects"?

Nell 02-05-20 13:28

It seemed very unusual to me. Of course the doctor was a country doctor not a leading pathologist!

In my darker moments I did wonder if stepmum had poisoned her. In any case brandy isn't a good idea for stomach ailments.

Merry 03-05-20 07:04

Here's a medical article describing spontaneous gastric perforation in two children around the age of your relative. As the article says, this is very rare, but it can happen:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5045918/

I think in your relative's case they tried to attribute a cause and clearly their ideas don't seem to hold much weight today. I wonder also, if the congestion of the lungs they brought in to the equation was perhaps not actually life threatening (or at least not at the time she passed away), but something they included to try and help along the post mortem result because they knew what they had come up with already was not very plausible.

Nell 04-05-20 15:52

Thanks for your input, Kate & Merry.

I googled but had not found that article Merry. It seems it's rare but possible to have a spontaneous gastric perforation. I expect the doctor had never come across it before. Only emergency surgery would have saved her, poor girl.


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