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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Stork, post: 2668265, member: 71642&quot;]I ran across this medal fairly early in my collecting-- a Princess Charlotte death medal.&nbsp; I&#039;ve posted variations of this write-up before, but I&#039;ll post it here too--a lesson how one action (or lack of action) literally changed history.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://collectivecoin.imgix.net/zWdVi3HjTj6Up5Fi8LcP_Charlotte%20combo.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Princess Charlotte&#039;s obstetrician was from the &#039;low intervention&#039; school.&nbsp; After a long pregnancy where she gained too much weight early (and was put on a diet and underwent &#039;bleedings&#039;) she entered labor in poor shape and carrying a large baby.</p><p><br /></p><p>Her water broke and she labored for 50 hours, apparently crowning for 24 of the hours with the baby in a malpresentation--most likely &#039;occiput&#039; transverse&#039; (head down but looking sideways instead of up or down...not generally favorable for a delivery) depending on the historical descriptions given. </p><p><br /></p><p>Signs of fetal stress were seen (meconium/passing of fetal stool) and indeed, once delivered, the baby was stillborn (and weighed 9#).</p><p><br /></p><p>Princess Charlotte herself passed away about 6 hours later after heavy bleeding. Her death could have been due solely to the post delivery bleeding (at risk given her length of labor and large baby) or possibly complicated by infection and/or DIC (clotting problems). </p><p><br /></p><p>Her doctor was heavily criticized for declining advice to use forceps (even barring an expert consultant from attending to the Princess according to some sources). Forceps may or may not have saved either of them, but would have improved the odds.&nbsp; The doctor later killed himself, and thus the delivery is known as the &#039;triple obstetric tragedy&#039;.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Prince-Regent George and his wife Caroline pretty much hated each other and no attempt was made for another child after the birth of Charlotte.&nbsp; After Caroline&#039;s death (and after a failed attempt at divorce or annulment) the future King made no attempt at re-marriage or fathering another heir. </p><p><br /></p><p>Subsequently the race was on with his siblings to produce an heir, with success by the Duke of Kent who was able to marry, and eventually the future Queen Victoria was born. </p><p><br /></p><p>Queen Victoria was quite prolific and from Victoria&#039;s offspring the hemophilia B gene (suspected to be a spontaneous mutation in Victoria&#039;s mother) was introduced into ruling houses of Spain, Germany and Russia.</p><p><br /></p><p>Interestingly Queen Victoria married Albert, the nephew of Princess Charlotte&#039;s husband (who, after Charlotte&#039;s death, became the King of Belgium.&nbsp; He had turned down the offer to become the King of Greece so he progressed rather far from being the broke dude who married a Princess, but I digress).</p><p><br /></p><p>One could argue that obstetrical choices led to rather dramatic historical outcomes.&nbsp; Different choices might have at the very least, saved the Princess, who may have had a second child which would have likely resulted in a drastically different future. And, without Victoria, the hemophilia gene would not have entered all those royal houses.</p><p><br /></p><p>In addition, the idea of interventions in the labor process gained traction including increased use of forceps, uterotonics (medications resulting in stronger and increased contractions in labor and more importantly, for reducing bleeding after delivery), and the idea of using pain medications.&nbsp; Queen Victoria herself was a very early adopter by using chloroform for the birth of her last child, subsequently singing the praises and paving the way to modern pain management for labor.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, the inaction (and outright prevention by some records) of the attending physician led to the death of the Princess, and the birth of Queen Victoria and all the subsequent history that followed.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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