Pre-confederation Newfoundland was a challenging place to grow up, especially for children in low-income families. Infectious diseases—including cholera, typhus, smallpox, tuberculosis, diphtheria, gastroenteritis, and whooping cough—circulated unchecked. Poverty, poor sanitation, ignorance, and isolation coupled with poor transportation compounded the effects of poor health. Health care was difficult to access, particularly in outport communities.

In Only a Baby Gone, pediatrician Rick Cooper explores these and other challenges, painting a sombre picture of the early days of Newfoundland society.

Newfoundland only began recording the number of children who died in 1900, revealing a shockingly high mortality rate—significantly higher than that in the rest of Canada. Cooper investigates the reasons behind those numbers, placing them in historical and political context.

Cooper’s work is the first of its kind, the result of piecing together details found in community and family histories, anecdotal and primary sources, and in-depth reading of the scanty formal records. By shedding new light on the past, Only a Baby Gone offers important context for reflection on the health care challenges of the twenty-first century.

Dr. Rick Cooper has spent much of his career as a teaching physician and practicing pediatrician at the Janeway Hospital in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He retired as a faculty member of Memorial University’s medical school in 2011. He is a Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Cooper is a multiple recipient of the Silver Orator Award, which is given to the professor who has provided the best lectures with respect to content, style, humour, and aptness. Dr. Cooper has also been awarded the Royal College Mentor of the Year for Atlantic Canada, the Dr. Craig Loveys Teaching Award, and is a recipient of the Royal College Specialist of the Year Award for Atlantic Canada.

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