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.had neglectedto cut the umbilical cord.Dr Annie Keogh stated that it was likely thatMary Anne had been in  great physical and mental agony. A younggirl , like Mary Anne, she stated,  would not have known what to do.64The medical officer who examined the defendant in a 1948 countyKilkenny case remarked that  from examination it appears that this girlwas completely ignorant of the dangers connected with child birth andalso with some of the essential physical facts.65Temporary insanityThe issue of unmarried mothers and temporary insanity is central to anydiscussion of infanticide and medicine.McAvoy has argued that with thepassing of the Infanticide Act in 1949,  infanticide came to be seen as theact of a woman temporarily mentally unbalanced by the trauma of child-birth.66 The idea that following childbirth a woman could become tem-porarily insane was not new.Cooper Graves has argued that in England the idea of  temporary insanity became increasingly accepted and morecommonly used as a medico-legal concept at the turn of the twentiethcentury.67 According to Marland,  puerperal insanity began to be usedwith increasing authority as a defence plea in cases of infanticide orconcealment from the early nineteenth century onwards,68following the trial of giving birth, involving intense physical effort,pain and disruption of the delicate reproductive organs, and in manycases increased strain on family resources, mothers were seen as liableto become deranged, neglectful or violent.They came to representa risk to themselves and other family members, particularly thenew-born child.69Women who suffered from puerperal insanity were regarded as eitherhaving been  unaware of what they were doing or to have temporarilylost control of their actions.70 In Ireland, however, while doctors whowere called on to give evidence in infanticide trials between 1922 and1949 frequently noted that single women who had given birth secretlyand without assistance may have been dazed, distressed or sufferedfrom shock, few referred in their evidence to the fact that women mayhave suffered from puerperal insanity or puerperal mania.Clíona Rattigan 181In Ireland, doctors had referred to temporary insanity in court longbefore the law made a provision for it and, in their statements, anumber of women who were charged with the murder of a new-borninfant described themselves as mad or half-mad immediately aftergiving birth.In a 1944 county Kilkenny case, Bridget D.told Gardaíthat she could not tell them exactly what she did.She said she was half mad at the time.71 Some women became suicidal.However, state-ments made by women when they were arrested and charged clearlyneed to be treated with caution.When Bridget D.said she was  halfmad she may have merely meant that she had been extremely dis-tressed and emotional.Dr Patrick Hamilton, meanwhile, had  very con-siderable experience of maternity cases.72 He was of the opinion that it is quite common in a first case for the mother to be for a short timein a state of temporary insanity.It is more marked in the case of a firstbirth.73 Dr Charles Conway examined Susan D.after the birth of hernew-born infant son in May 1935.He too was of the opinion that  awoman unattended at the birth of her first child would be mentallydisturbed and would not be normal.74 In fact, he went as far as tosuggest it was common for a first time  mother to be willing to inflictinjury on her child immediately after birth.75From the depositional evidence of doctors, nurses, family members andthe statements of unmarried mothers, it is clear that in many caseswomen charged with infanticide displayed signs of distress and irrationalbehaviour.In their statements to the Gardaí, a number of womenwho were charged with the murder of a new-born infant maintainedthey were suffering from the shock and trauma of giving birth withoutassistance and, as a result, were unable to account for their actions.Somewomen claimed that they were unable to recall what had happenedimmediately after the birth.Joan C.was charged with the murder of herunnamed male infant in March 1944.When Dr William O Connor exam-ined the baby s body, he found a knotted cloth tied around the infant sneck.Part of the infant s gum was torn.The doctor concluded that thebaby had been strangled and that death was caused by asphyxia.In herstatement Joan C.said that she did not recall tying a cloth around theinfant s neck and claimed that if she had done so it had not been inten-tional.Joan insisted that she was suffering from a loss of memory andcould not remember what had happened or what she had done. I don tremember putting any cloths around the child except my coat & I don tremember being brought to Tralee hospital.76 It is clear from the depos-itional evidence of Joan s sister and father that they were alarmed by herbehaviour.Mary C.gave a very vivid description of her sister Joan shortly182 Unmarried Mothers and Infanticide in Irelandafter she had given birth. She appeared to be convulsed.She wastearing the bedclothes.She was working her hands.As a result of thatconvulsed condition I brought in her father and he had to hold her inbed.77 Joan s father said that  she was cracking her head against theside of the bed and  throwing her hands and gnashing her teethduring all that period.78 Joan C. s behaviour is one of the moreextreme examples of mental disturbance that manifested itself in singlemothers accused of infanticide.In a report on a 1931 county Clare case in the Irish Times, it wasnoted that when Margaret F.gave evidence she said that  before shegave birth to the child in the field she was in such agony that she didnot know what happened.Bridget C.gave her a bootlace and told herto tie it around the infant s neck, which she did, because she did notknow then what she was doing.She denied having deliberately killedthe child.79 The jury took this into account and, although they foundher guilty, they strongly recommended Margaret F.to mercy  owing tothe circumstances under which the birth took place.80The jury in the Deborah S.case found it difficult to deliver a verdict.They informed the judge  that their difficulty was as to the state ofmind of the woman at the time of the act.81 Deborah S [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]