Death in the Wizarding World

[inkling108]

No: HPFGUIDX 129794

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, happydogue at a... wrote:
> Tom Riddle was not born in "these days" If you look back to 
the '20's '30's and '40's there were still plenty of babies born in 
the home. (I have a friend born in the late '50's who was born in 
the front bedroom of her grandmother's house with no doctor). Even 
babies born in the hospital during these times with any medical 
complications or moms with complications were at risk. Just walk 
through the "baby section" at your local cemetery and you will see 
plenty of baby graves from this time period. 

Inkling now:

Let me clarify -- my impression (maybe it's just me) from the books 
has been that the wizarding world considers itself way ahead of the 
muggle world and regards muggle advances in medicine and technology 
as pitiful (Lucius Malfoy) or ingenious (Arthur Weasley) attempts to 
compensate for the muggle lack of magic.  For example, a jetliner 
would be seen as a poor substitute for apparating.  

So I was assuming that the Wizarding World would long ago have 
worked out a magical way to prevent women dying in childbirth, and 
that the muggle world had only recently begun to catch up.  Most 
deaths in childbirth in the old days were caused by either infection 
or hemorrhage and both of these conditions would seem fairly 
straightforward and easy to treat if you had access to magic (not 
that I know, but it just seems like that would be the case given the 
tone of the books, and the kinds of things Madame Pomfrey does as a 
matter of course, like growing back bones.

Happydogue:  
> The wizarding world is a magical place but there are plenty of 
things that can kill people just like in our world. Sudden 
infections, complications from illnesses, heart attack, accidents, 
suicide, murder. Those in the wizarding world would be subject to 
other maladies as the rest of us with human bodies such as stroke, 
high cholesterol , illness due to tobacco or alcohol abuse etc. No 
one has ever said that the staff at St. Mungo’s can bring people 
back from the dead
 

Inkling:
No, of course not, but again, speaking just for myself, I'd be 
surprised if a mediwizard even in the 20's and 30's could not 
prevent death from happening in the first place, especially in the 
case of childbirth.

Also, you never do hear of wizards with cancer, stroke or heart 
disease, do you?  I can't recall any instamces of wizard's suffering 
from these common muggle complaints.

Inkling (in a rush, must get son to Kung Fu class)