The use of analgesia and anaesthesia during labour at St. Luke's Hospital, Malta

Abstract

Although the use of analgesia to relieve the pain of labour soon ceased to be considered immoral, it has been a technically controversial topic since 1853. Having inhaled chloroform during the birth of her eighth child, Queen Victoria expressed herself as grateful for the discovery of this means of alleviating and preventing pain. The acknowledged skill of the physicians who sanctioned the inhalation of chloroform was contested by the rest of the medical profession who recorded intense astonishment at this use of chloroform. There still exists a lack of general agreement as to which drugs are ideal analgesics during labour. The reasons for this are that requirements are stringent, and much depends on the skill with which they are used.