Hazards of mattresses, beds and bedding in deaths of infants

Of 52 infants who had died suddenly and were referred to autopsy, nine had lain on adult water beds for the first time; five had died as a result of accidents; two had died on water beds; two were in beds with widely spaced slats; and one had died as a result of strangulation. Three deaths were due to overlying. Three other infants had been placed on sheepskin rugs for the first time and were found dead shortly thereafter. These infants ranged in age from 2 to 9 months, except for a severely mentally retarded nine-year-old with spastic paraplegia. We believe that a general warning should be issued concerning water beds and that soft bedding should not be used for infants. Infants should not be placed unattended or left to sleep on water beds; only beds recommended for infants should be used. Overlying of a young infant is most likely to occur on a water bed, or if the parent is obese or has consumed alcohol.     

Death associated with inadvertent hydrocodone overdose in a child with a respiratory tract infection

A 3-year-old child died of the combined effects of a bacterial superinfection and a relative overdose of hydrocodone prescribed for a cough due to a presumed viral respiratory tract infection. This case illustrates the importance of evaluating the effects of prescribed medication in assessing the cause and mechanism of death in children dying suddenly of presumed natural disease.     

Married Women Bankrupts in the Age of Coverture

Many married women with separate property held their property as stock-in-trade and traded independently from their husbands. However, if the business failed, a married woman trader's ability to take advantage of bankruptcy process depended on the exception to coverture according to which she held her separate property. This article is the first to examine reported bankruptcy cases involving married women in their doctrinal context and in relation to other exceptions to coverture. It analyzes the issues arising in the eighteenth century and argues that they should be understood in relation to the larger picture of married women's law, especially the law of private separation. The article also considers the oblique relationship between private separation jurisprudence and married women's bankruptcy in the nineteenth century, a relationship that was bridged by a line of cases that, on the surface, seem to be unrelated.