⇦Previous Event
My entry into the world’s medical records began as an unnamed entity as part of my mother’s prenatal visits. In the absence of fetal ultrasound or amniocentesis all data about me are, in the terminology of Floridi, are derivative data—data about me can only be inferred from measurements of my mother.
May 24, 1968
For various social reasons, my mother delayed getting ready to go to the hospital. When it was apparent that I was coming, it was a rush to get to LDS Hospital which was 9 miles north of our house. When they arrived at the hospital my mother is assigned a patient number (“11-50-45”) and is then whisked away to the delivery room while my father was left to complete the admission process. The data my father provides are known as demographic data and include
- name
- sex
- age
- occupation
of the patient and the
- name
- relationship to the patient
- employer
of the guarantor
My mother is the patient while my father is the guarantor, who is going to be held liable for payment. The admission process is completed (or started?) at 3:40 PM.
The Birth
Meanwhile my mother has been administered a “central nervous system drug” in her spine—probably an epidural but possibly a spinal block—that keeps her awake during the delivery but free from pain. In her previous two labors my mother had given birth unconscious, the so-called twilight births that had started in the early 20th century. But the 1960s saw a movement to make birthing more mother centric and by 1968 Utah hospitals were allowing fathers to be present at the birth and mother’s to be conscious. My mother had cajoled my father into joining her in the delivery room—“All the other couples in the neighborhood are doing it!”—but my delivery came to fast. I was born at 4:11 PM, before my father was able to arrive at the delivery room.
By the 1960s fetal monitoring was common during labor, so there would have been some data (e.g. heart rate) generated about me prior to birth, but once I was born a stream of data generation began.
Here is an early example of a patient health data given to my parents:
Questions
- What are the medical data and metadata on this announcment?
Post-Labor
A physical examination would have been performed on me. “The neonatal exam has not changed – need to be careful to check range of motion of all limbs, the fontanelle in the skull, skin color (not racial, but for jaundice).” (David Sundwall). An Apgar score would have been computed for me and my heel would have been pricked to collect blood to be sent to the State Lab for tests to look for common genetic anomalies, at the time, mostly related to enzyme deficiencies. Blood tests are also done in the hospital. On May 26th, just before being discharged, I was circumcised, a common procedure at the time, less so now.
One of the last pieces of data that is generated before I am discharged is a birth certificate. Here is a clip from my birth certificate. Notice that I did not have a name at the time the birth certificate was signed and submitted on May 26.
