Medicine Has Come a Long Way in a Short Time

So many people go to the doctor so frequently that common procedures are taken for granted, usually. It can astonish people to find out how little time ago those procedures became common. It is rather neat to think about things like this, to gain a better appreciation of how far medicine has come in a short time.

American Civil War

To get a great idea of how fast medicine has been advancing, we don’t need to look at ancient history, though we certainly could. Let’s just start by looking at conditions from 1861 to 1865. That was only about 150 years ago, but there is a reason for looking at this time frame. These were the years of the war of the states in the US.

There were approximately 600,000 people killed in the war. That is a lot of people. However, what most people don’t fully grasp is that only about 200,000 of them died in battle. The other two-thirds of the deaths were from diseases, infections, and what would now be considered as medical malpractice.

In the 1860’s, there was no formal training for doctors and medics, for one thing. For many of the war doctors, the only training they had was from a thin booklet they received. Some of their ideas were rather absurd or downright grotesque, too. An example of absurdity is that amputation was extremely common, even for what we’d now consider to be minor injuries. A gunshot to the lower leg often meant amputation of the leg rather than repair of the damage. The idea was to remove the leg before it could become infected. Of course, since there was very little knowledge of sanitation and nobody yet knew what germs were, amputation often actually opened the door for infections. Mortality rates for amputees were extremely high. (Louis Pasteur didn’t publish his theory of germs until 1870, after the war was over.)

An example of the grotesque was that doctors of the time thought that pus was an extremely good sign. We now know that pus is caused by infection, usually due to germs, but back then, they would actually scoop the pus out of a soldier’s wound and smear it in the wounds of other soldiers, who had no pus. This was not only grotesque, it spread infections like wildfire.

At times, severe wounds, including belly wounds, were packed with mud, too, with the mistaken idea that this would let them heal faster. Naturally, that was disastrous and was a fast ticket to death.

WWI and WWII

Fast forward to the world wars. By then, there had been some major breakthroughs in medicines. Germs had become recognized as detrimental to health. In the late 1800’s, vaccines were created for several illnesses. In 1901, Karl Landsteiner discovered that there were different blood types, making transfusions possible. The idea of vitamins as being important to health came about in 1906. Insulin was discovered in 1921. More vaccines were created. Penicillin was discovered in 1928; the ‘miracle antibiotic’. These were tremendous advancements and they saved a lot of lives.

However, sanitation was still practically non-existent and many of the wounded still died from infection. They knew that germs could kill, but they didn’t yet know that sanitation prevented germs. Operations were also normally done without antiseptics and most often without anesthesia. In fact, though anesthesia had been known to even the ancient Greeks and Romans, there wasn’t widespread use, particularly since most of the available anesthetics were dangerous to use. For instance, opium was used occasionally, but often resulted in death or addiction.

Korean war

By the time the Korean war was fought, advancements were happening fast. Refined anesthetics became available, along with pain medicines, antiseptics, and doctors, who now were actually trained medical professionals, began to understand about sanitation. Things like surgical masks, operating gowns that were changed frequently, and disposable rubber gloves came into use. We might think of them as simple things, but they saved countless lives. Procedures such as vascular surgery saved many more and in a lot of cases, allowed damage to be corrected that would have formerly been considered a lost cause.

The number of advances, including discoveries and inventions, after the Korean War have been staggering. There is an inclination to take many procedures as ordinary, until we stop to think about how little time it took for those advancements to take place. Only 150 years ago, a major injury often meant either amputation or death or both. Doctors can now actually reattach a severed limb and amputation is a last resort.

Just think about it for a moment. Just 150 years ago, there were no blood tests, the importance of blood pressure wasn’t understood, there was no concept of what germs are or how they cause infection, there were no antibiotics, and normal procedures didn’t include pain relief. Even teeth were pulled without anesthesia. Medical instruments weren’t kept clean and cleanliness wasn’t stressed during medical procedures. Knees, hips, and shoulders weren’t replaced. There were no MRI’s, blood type matching was unknown, injections hadn’t been thought of, and many of the simple procedures that we now think of as commonplace were life-threatening. In fact, if you had one of those common problems, your chances of surviving would have been poor. 

Knowing all of this, don’t you think it is amazing how far medical science has advanced in just the past century and a half? Aren’t you thankful that it has? At the very least, it is hoped that you now have a better appreciation of even the simplest medical procedures that are done today. Much of what we now know came to light just since 1953!