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NEWS FOCUS:It is timely that high rates of Caesarean births are debated in Ireland – but attempts to set targets are fraught with difficulty

THE FIRST successful Caesarean section (CS) recorded in Ireland was performed in 1738 by Mary Donally, a midwife, on a farmer’s wife who had been in labour for 12 days. She resutured the uterus and skin, and dressed the wound with the white of an egg. Within four weeks post-operatively, the woman had recovered and was able to walk a mile. The survival of the mother after Caesarean section, however, was unusual. In 1884, a review of 134 operations reported a maternal mortality of 56 per cent internationally.