Dorothy Jane Oliver

Dorothy Jane Oliver died from an abortion.

She died in Northampton General Hospital on 17 September 1950 after being admitted on 15 September 1950.

She had first complained of not feeling well at about 9am on 15 September 1950 and went to bed and didn't get up again until a doctor was called at about dinner time who then sent her to the hospital.

At her inquest it was heard that there was no evidence that the abortion that caused her death was made by anyone other than herself. However, the jury said that they were of the opinion that the operation was carried out by some person or persons unknown.

The doctor that carried out her post mortem on 18 September 1950 said that her death was from peritonitis resulting from an incomplete abortion becoming infected. When he was asked whether she could have performed the abortion herself he said, 'It is most unlikely, but it could be done with extreme difficulty'. He said that he thought that the interference had taken place between ten and twenty days earlier but noted that it was not an easy time to fix.

Dorothy Oliver had been a housekeeper and had worked for a man in Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire for the previous two-and-a-half years and already had a child who had lived with her.

Her father said that he last saw Dorothy Oliver the previous summer and that she was very happy then and had never complained.

Her master said that he didn't know that she was pregnant and could offer no information about her condition.

An open verdict was returned.