The life and work of Ignaz Semmelweis is among the most immediately arresting and moving stories in the history of science. A Hungarian physician in mid-nineteenth century Vienna, Semmelweis discovered that if the doctors of his hospital washed their hands in a chlorine solution in between performing autopsies and delivering births, it would effectively eliminate the outbreak of fatal puerperal infections among the laboring women, saving thousands of lives. Tragically, his work would largely go unrecognized and ignored within his own lifetime, contributing to his mental decline and eventual commitment to an insane asylum where he would die from gangrenous wounds sustained from beatings received by the guards there. The story is distinct …show more content…
There had been several hitherto attempts to explain the higher incidence of puerperal fever in the first clinic, ranging from the highly suspected principle of lochial suppression, to the more speculative theory of atmospheric disturbance (Nuland 33). Of the later, one of the first observations that Semmelweis made upon being appointed obstetrics assistant was that the two maternal clinics were located adjacent to each other in the hospital, and as such, any external atmospheric cause of puerperal fever would have afflicted both of the clinics equally. This led Semmelweis to a rigorous process of elimination of any conceivable variable between the two clinics. For example, Semmelweis noticed that the hospital priests who administered the last rites of the dying would walk through the length of the first clinic on their way to the afflicted, ringing their clerical bell and waving incense, whereas they usually took a shorter route through the second. Semmelweis believed this to be causing psychological distress to the patients of the First Clinic, so he ordered the hospital priests to take alternate routes. Though this led to no change in the mortality rate of the First Clinic, it is demonstrative of the lengths that Semmelweis was pursuing in addition to regular hospital duties. Semmelweis would go through a large number of other potential variables, such as changing the temperatures of the clinics, or even the positions in which the mothers had their deliveries, all the while accumulating a large amount of meticulously documented
It is a long-with-standing stereotype that Italians love to gamble. This is true. My great grandfather, Pasquale Giovannone, played the riskiest hand of cards when he immigrated to the United States as an illegal stowaway at the age of thirteen. He forged a life for himself amidst the ever-changing social and political shifts of the early nineteenth century. The legacy he left would later lead to the birth of my father, John Giovannone, in Northern New Jersey in 1962.
Medicine has been developed and discovered for thousands of years; however, the 1920’s was the first decade that fashioned a pathway for new developments and discoveries. Medical professionals have taken a huge hit for their fight in finding new inventions that can save patients from death’s hands. In the 1920’s, medicine has also taken a tremendous leap in controlling fatal diseases such as diabetes (Pendergast 110). Medicine in the 1920’s has altered the way medicine is shaped today; furthermore, the development and discovery of the iron lung, penicillin, and insulin were the first pertinent breakthroughs in medical history (“Iron” par. 7; Grimsley par. 15; “Banting” par. 13).
and European society scrambled to find a cure to this mysterious disease. This study ponders the effects of medieval methods of treatment on this once ravaging disease.
Medical science had not yet discovered the importance of antiseptics in preventing infection. Water was contaminated and soldiers sometimes ate unripened or spoiled food. There weren’t always clean rags available to clean wounds. Because of frequent shortages of water, surgeons often went days without washing their hands or instruments. So now germs were passing from patient to patient.
In the Renaissance, some aspects of medicine and doctors were still in a Dark Age. Outbreaks of disease were common, doctors were poor, medicine was primitive and many times doctors would kill a patient with a severe treatment for a minor disease! But, there were other sections where medicine and the use of medications improved greatly. This paper is written to illustrate the "light and dark" sides of medicine in the Renaissance.
Daily life was occasionally exceedingly hard to fathom. Medicine was immensely limited, but some methods were tested in hopes of finding a secure lead to restoring health. That fact that there were no antibiotics during the middle ages is what turned the hard times into the absolute most difficult times. ...
Ricardo Semler covers two topics in his talk on how to run a company with few rules but the most interesting is what says about the changes he made to his company. Ricardo begins his talk by speaking about the deaths in his family due to melanoma and the possibility of him dying from the same cause. Should Ricardo ever receive such news, he knows that he would probably attempt to spend more time with his family and fulfilling his bucket list. But Ricardo realizes that his few days will not be enjoyed, so what is the point of waiting to do the things you love until right before you die? Ricardo then introduces what he calls “terminal days”, days of the week that he uses to pursue his interests. Ricardo then speaks of expanding this idea to his company that employs thousands of
The reason Semmelweis is the unknown founder of the cure for childbed fever is because he never concretely published or shared his findings. Thankfully, Nuland has taken the time to compile all of this information to share Semmelweis’ story.
Andreas Vesalius was well known for his dissections in the 1500’s. Growing up in Brussels he was captivated by the anatomy of animals. Throughout his childhood Andreas dissected many small animals trying to uncover life’s mystery. This curiosity regarding anatomy came very naturally, due to the fact that he was born into a family of physicians. Vesalius started his formal education at the University of Louvain; then traveled to Paris to continue his studies in medicine. During his life time, Vesalius was an accomplished physician, and professor of anatomy. He also received his degree as a doctor of medicine at the age of twenty-two. Vesalius writings and teachings set the foundation of anatomy we know today, hence why he received the title; founder of modern anatomy.
"Nazi Medical Experiments." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Christopher Hamlin, “Edwin Chadwick, ‘Mutton Medicine’, and the Fever Question,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 70 (1996): 233-265.
A remarkable breakthrough in medicine occurred in the late 1800s through the work of Louis Pasteur. Pasteur's experiments showed that bacteria reproduce like other living things and travel from place to place. Using the results of his findings, he developed pasteurization, which is the process of heating liquids to kill bacteria and prevent fermentation. He also produced an anthrax vaccine as well as a way to weaken the rabies virus. After studying Pasteur's work, Joseph Lister developed antisepsis, which is the process of killing disease-causing germs. In 1865 before an operation, he cleansed a leg wound first with carbolic acid, and performed the surgery with sterilized (by heat) instruments. The wound healed, and the patient survived. Prior to surgery, the patient would've needed an amputation. However, by incorporating these antiseptic procedures in all of his surgeries, he decreased postoperative deaths. The use of antiseptics eventually helped reduce bacterial infection not only in surgery but also in childbirth and in the treatment of battle wounds. Another man that made discoveries that reinforced those of Pasteur's was Robert Koch. Robert Koch isolated the germ that causes tuberculosis, identified the germ responsible for Asiatic cholera, and developed sanitary measures to prevent disease. (1)
Wilson, John L. “Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865).” Lane Medical Library. 1999. 23 Apr. 2003 <http://elane.Stanford.edu/Wilson/Text/5c.html>.
The number of facilities suggests that the city had to take measures to contain the outbreaks as soon as possible but there were still challenges that undermined their efforts. These facilities were unlike the sanatoriums that were described before. The study made note that such
In the 19th century several scientists made observations leading to the development of the theory. Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian obstetrician working in Vienna who observed that women were more likely to die in childbirth from puerperal fever when examined by a doctor compared to those who were examined by a midwife. This was because the doctors had usually come straight from an autopsy. He established that puerperal fever was a contagious disease and matter from the autopsies was a likely cause. Semmelweis then got the doctors to wash their hands with chlorinated lime water before examining pregnant women. This then reduced the amount of women dying in childbirth from 18% to 2.2% at his hospital. However his theories were initially rejected.