Death certificate 1872 - cause of death - some help with interpretation please!

[liverbird50]

I have a death certificate for an ancestor, Elizabeth Howard died 13.4.1872. cause of death -( looks like) "hepatitis" 12 weeks confinement. Carditis (looks like) 9 days.
My question is does the 12 weeks confinement mean she was pregnant at date of death, or would the hepatitis mean she was confined indoors. I assume the carditis was heart disease. She had born 9 living children, the last born 1869.

Any help on this would be very gratefully received. I am kind of hoping she wasnt pregnant yet again.

How would she have contracted hepatitis (I think that is what the certificate says). Sorry for all the questions, I am not very "medically gifted"! Best wishes to all on RootsChat.
Liverbird50

[GR2]

I would take the "12 weeks" as only applying to the hepatitis, not the confinement. Have you checked to see if a child was born?

[LizzieW]

My guess is she had been pregnant again.  It's a bit strange wording.  Confinement usually means day of delivery, so was she 12 weeks after delivery, or 12 weeks before delivery?  Alternatively, someone missed out a comma after confinement and she was 12 weeks post delivery, had hepatitis and carditis. 

If she had hepatitis she would have been quite ill.  Hepatitis is caused either by a virus or alcohol and is an inflammatory disease of the liver.  I had hepatitis when I was only about 7-8 so in my case it was definitely a virus.  As an adult working in hospital, I've been vaccinated against Hep A & B.

Hep A is a short acute illness, and the one she most likely contracted.  Hep B & C are the type of hepatitis you get from sharing bodily fluids with someone who also has the disease, or sharing needles (drug addicts) etc.  So I doubt she had either Hep B or Hep C. 

So poor woman, a 10th pregnancy/delivery, hepatitis and carditis.  She didn't stand much chance really.

[Gadget]

I would agree with GR2. She'd had hepatitis for 12 weeks and then had probably given birth and also had carditis.

Does it read:

Hepatitis
12 weeks
Confinement
Carditis


Gadget

[liverbird50]

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to help out and reply to me.
I have not found a birth of a 10th child after Elizabeth's death. I suppose my gut instinct is that perhaps she was confined with Hepatitis being very ill and the carditis was caused as a secondary event. On the cause of death it is worded thus  ( Hepatitis
                                                                     (      12 weeks
                                                                      ( Confinement
                                                                         Carditis 9 days

No punctuation after any of the words and very hard to read after the Carditis, looks like "of days" but I think it is 9 days.

I think if there was any pregnancy involved, perhaps she was just 12 weeks into her pregnancy, but probably the 12 weeks referred to her illness needing her to be confined in the final stages.

Hope you all agree, and thanks again. I am sure I will have more puzzles to be solved with your kind assistance.
Speak soon,
Liverbird50

[Gadget]

Just to add that, in my experience, having worked with many maternity records, confinement, in medical terminology, refers to the period of childbirth rather than the period of pregnancy.

[LizzieW]

So she had hepatitis for 12 weeks, delivered a baby (probably prematurely) and also had carditis.

[liverbird50]

thanks for your opinion Lizzie W. Think I will go with the Hepatitis for 12 weeks, and heart disease. Sadly we will never know for sure. Poor lady, 42 is no age.
Liverbird50 :

[josey]

Whereas I would go with the expert opinions of Gadget & LizzieW.....

Can you post a snip of the cause of death column?