Saving Mothers' Lives: - Public Health Agency for Northern Ireland

caring for the woman. Nonetheless, there were many cases in which the seriousness of the mothers’ condition
appears not to have been appreciated and the timing and nature of the intervention was less than optimal.
Method
As fi rst identifi ed by this Enquiry, these women kill themselves by predominantly violent means as shown
for this triennium in Table 12.6. Only nine women died from an overdose of a prescribed or over-thecounter
medication, which is the usual method of suicide for non-pregnant women.
Table 12.6
Method of maternal suicide: United Kingdom; 1997-2005.
Method of suicide 1997-99 2000-02 2003-05 All
n n n n (%)
Hanging 10 8 14 32 (38)
Jumping from a height 5 4 4 13 (15)
Cut throat 4 1 0 5 (6)
Intentional road accident 1 2 0 3 (4)
Self-immolation 1 1 2 4 (5)
Drowning 1 1 2 4 (5)
Gunshot 1 0 0 1 (1)
Railway track 0 0 1 1 (1)
Overdose of prescribed drugs 3 9 9 21(25)
Total stated 26 26 32 85 (100)
Not stated 0 0 1 0
Age
The ages of the women who died from suicide ranged between 15 and 45 years of age, the mean and
median age being 29 years. Although previous Reports have found that women who committed suicide
tended to be older than those who die from physical causes of maternal death, this has not been shown for
this Report.
Ethnicity
All but four women who killed themselves were White, the others being Indian, Black African or from Pakistan.
Social characteristics
Fourteen of the women were either single and unemployed or in relationships where both partners were
unemployed. Several had professional occupations and two were health care workers. Ten mothers
booked for maternity care after fi ve months of gestation, or were irregular attenders for care. Twenty-two
had had previous children. Fourteen were living with domestic abuse, eight were addicted to drugs and
four were occasional drug users.
163