Car Mechanic Dreams Up a Tool to Ease Births
As Jorge Odón, an argentine car mechanic slept, his mind jumped from a method to retrieve a cork from a wine bottle to the realization that the same method could be used on a baby stuck in the birth canal.
Mr. Odón, 59, built his first prototype in his kitchen, using a glass jar for a womb, his daughter’s doll for the trapped baby, and a fabric bag and sleeve sewn by his wife as his lifesaving device.
Unlikely as it seems, the idea that took shape on his counter has won the enthusiastic endorsement of the World Health Organization and major donors, and an American medical technology company has just licensed it for production.
With the Odón Device, an attendant slips a plastic bag inside a lubricated plastic sleeve around the head, inflates it to grip the head and pulls the bag until the baby emerges.
Doctors say it has enormous potential to save babies in poor countries, and perhaps to reduce cesarean section births in rich ones.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/health/new-tool-to-ease-difficult-births-a-plastic-bag.html?_r=1&
And here I was thinking that it was a bad thing to put plastic bags over baby's heads.
ReplyDeleteThere's no risk of suffocation Robert Rapplean , baby gets O2 from the placenta. This tool is perhaps better than forceps.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely true. I've seen suction cups attached to the baby's head in attempts to do this, too, but this should overall work better.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably not too much of a concern that the doctor might break the baby's neck doing it this way. I'm just glad that my wife is past the point where it might be useful.
This is such an ingenious idea, kudos to Jorge for dreaming it up! Must have been some good wine he was drinking when he came up with the idea to remove the cork this way!
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