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Take my advice: such a woman, being a nuisance, should be paid and sent off.
If the parturient is worried by the nurse, she should inform her physician without delay. I have known patients that were so intimidated by the nurse as to be afraid to mention this fact to physician or husband, and would, consequently, go from day to day, sick without an appreciable cause.
In this case, let the husband take the matter in his own hands, and let him protest against such conduct: if this be vain, let him invite the woman out of the sick-room, and deliberately inform her that she must leave the house. Having gone thus far, she should not, under any pretext whatsoever, be allowed to enter that room before leaving; for, with truly revengeful spirit, she may make a scene that will greatly affect the condition of the wife.
It may be thought that I concern myself entirely too much about these nurses. Not so. Any one who has had experience with them will tell you that every young mother or husband needs all these cautions.
Nurses have their favorite doctors; and those are they who employ them the oftenest. When they are engaged where their favorite is not in attendance, they are sometimes given to talking disparagingly of the one who has the case in hand, and praising others: they have even been known to improvise facts and stories that bear against his character, or his skill as a physician. When this is the case, do not hesitate to silence them at once, and then watch them closely; for, to prove themselves right, they are possibly capable of injuring you or your child. If the nurse feeds the child by hand, see that she puts no powder in the milk, although she may tell you it is only a little soda, to prevent flatulence. If you employ a physician.
