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NPR: The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/01/12/375663920/the-doctor-who-championed-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives-snip-
This is the story of a man whose ideas could have saved a lot of lives and spared countless numbers of women and newborns' feverish and agonizing deaths.
You'll notice I said "could have."
The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis.
-snip-
I read about Semmelweis some time ago. Since then when I start thinking doctors know it all, I recall how he was ridiculed by his fellow physicians for his assertion that doctors should wash their hands between exams of patients.
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NPR: The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives (Original Post)
LiberalElite
Jan 2015
OP
PumpkinAle
(1,210 posts)1. I heard this the other day
really fascinating and quite sad.
Rec.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)2. Yes.
It's so taken for granted now. Disinfectant is everywhere now, made available for free. I see it in the supermarket and at my office in the conference rooms!
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)3. This reminds me of a good book.
"Testimony of Two Men" by Taylor Caldwell. The new young doctor has to continue to challenge the old doctors about this same thing.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)4. I'm going to look that up in the library - thanks!
niyad
(113,257 posts)5. semmelweiss understood that the midwives knew what they were doing--another thing that
pissed off the male docs.
so the good doc ended up in an asylum and died of a beating 14 days later. how incredibly sad.
niyad
(113,257 posts)6. "witches, nurses and midwives" by barbara ehrenreich and deirdre english