In the grand scheme of things, the largely successful medical operations performed today are a miracle. It wasn't all that long ago that surgery was a last-ditch act of desperation for patients, and a legal risk for those who performed them, people who sometimes had rather little education in what they were doing. Medical student Michael Denham tells us some high and low points in the history of surgery as he works through his surgical rotation. The four big challenges in developing the art of surgery through history have been 1. anatomical knowledge, 2. controlling the bleeding, 3. blocking pain, and 4. avoiding infection. An astonishing number of patients suffered and died as surgeons experimented and learned to deal with each of those challenges. And often they had to fight to even get the chance to try.
For example, the Code of Hammurabi stated that a surgeon whose patient died would have his hands cut off. When Galen taught about anatomy in the second century, human dissection was illegal, so all he knew was learned from animals. In medieval Europe, the only person to turn to for surgery would be a barber. Read how surgical techniques advanced despite a lack of knowledge and a poor reputation at Nautilus. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: SSgt. Derrick C. Goode, U.S. Air Force)
