Personal Collection

So, what is a Blunt Hook anyway?

A Blunt Hook is an obstetrical instrument. They were standard tools in an obstrical kit throughout the 17th – mid 20th centuires. It had a few uses. Primarily it was used to to help a breech, transverse or otherwise malpositioned, fetus to be born. It was hooked around a part of the body and then the body would be manipulated into a more favorable position to birth.

Sometimes, a Blunt Hook would be used as a fetal extraction tool in cases of fetal demise. In other words, if the fetus was dead inside the mother’s uterus then this tool could be used to reposition and remove the body. Leaving a dead fetus inside would result in its putrefication and subsequesnt infection for the mother which lead to her death as well. Removing a deceased fetus is an imperative.

My Blunt Hook happens to have a maker’s mark on it. Discovering that after I got it home helped me identify it. The maker’s mark reads, “D.W. Kolbe & Son”.

Maker's mark "D.W. Kolbe & Son" on an obstetrical blunt hook

Who is D.W. Kolbe & Son?

Luckily, this company was a very successful manufacturer of surgical tools in the middle 19th century. They were located in Philadelphia, PA. According to Temple University, Dietrich W. Kolbe was a German immigrant who had trained in Germany and Paris in making surgical instruments. He came to Philadelphia in 1874. He make his mark, so to speak, during the Civil War making surgical equipment and prostethics for the Union Army.

The mark “D.W. Kolbe & Son” was used in the manufacturing years 1867 – 1878. My lovely Blunt Hook was made in that time period. The hook will sit on display in my private collection. It is not currently for sale.

Do share this article with your friends.

I think it looks a bit like a horseshoe crab on it's back. — I think it looks a bit like a horseshoe crab on it’s back.

I have a Secret Santa who sent me a rather large box of interesting objects. My Secret Santa included a new-in-the-package Dalkon Shield IUD. As a collector, I was giddy when I saw it. This particular IUD has caused long term fear and loathing of all IUD’s. Yet, most women don’t know the story behind it. They know that IUD’s caused “problems” and that other methods of birth control were “better”. Even now, I hear women say they’d never get an IUD. That is a shame because IUD’s today are the most effective birth control on the market.

Let’s dig in to the story behind the Dalkon Shield and this pervasive fear of IUD’s.

In 1971, the A.H. Robbins company brought the Dalkon Shield to market, billed as a safer alternative to The Pill. The birth control pill, still being relatively new, had some kinks yet to be worked out. Many women were unhappy with it’s side effects and were searching for something that was safe and effective. Given the hole in the market, it was a prime business opportunity for A.H. Robbins and this new style of IUD.

IUDs have been around for a over a thousand years, in various shapes and forms. The Dalkon Shield, however, had something new going for it – a mass marketing campaign. Well, that and a different physical structure and an entirely different kind of string… but we’ll get to that in a minute.

This marketing campaign was so successful that approximately 2.8 million women eventually used the Dalkon Shield. They were, however, unaware of the lack of proper testing on this device and its safety.

Although A.H. Robbins tested the Dalkon Shield for efficacy, they did not test it for safety. At the time, that was not required before putting it out to market. The company also padded it’s efficacy rate to show a 2-3% failure rate, as opposed to the 10% failure rate it actually had.

Dalkon shield IUD, The Silent Mother — The blue stick is the insertion device. The grey, insect looking thing is the IUD itself.

There was a rather large problem with the Dalkon Shield. The string which attaches to the plastic IUD was made of a multi-filament string instead of a mono-filament string. Why is this an issue? Well the multi-filament string allows bacteria to creep up into the uterus whereas a mono-filament string does not. Bacteria, as we know, causes infection. Infection leads to sepsis. Sepsis leads to hospitalization, massive doses of antibiotics, the potential for surgery and so on. The biggest complaint being pelvic inflammatory disease, which beyond it’s discomfort, can lead to infertility.

All of this lead to five deaths, multiple spontaneous abortions and over 300,000 lawsuits against A.H. Robbins. The company folded under the pressure.

So after all that, there is an upside. Women stood up for themselves and for better medical testing. The success came in 1976 when the FDA added the Medical Device Amendments to their policies. Change is often slow. These women, of my mother’s generation, took to the streets, the media and the courts to protest and affect change. It makes me wonder what we could do now, should we rally.

In the meantime, I’ll hang on to this piece in my collection to remind me of how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go to support women’s rights with regards to access to safe birth control, safe abortion and bodily autonomy.

Please support The Silent Mother by becoming a patron through Patreon.

Your generous donation allows me to keep writing.

Do share this article with your friends.

Obstetrical Blunt Hook now in my collection

So, what is a Blunt Hook anyway?

Who is D.W. Kolbe & Son?

The Dalkon Shield. A story of corporate greed, a lack of medical testing and an ongoing fear of the IUD.