Another estimate
Posted by Ken on February 25, 1998 at 08:30:24:
In response to On using Leeches (historic info, but not for the squeamish), written by Carolyn B on February 24, 1998 at 21:31:08
] Another interesting quote from Ehrenreich & English:
] "Not until 1912, according to one medical estimate, did the average patient, seeking help from the average American doctor, have more than a fifty-fifty chance of benefiting from the encounter. In fact the average patient ran a significant risk of actually getting a worse result: bleeding, violent purges, heavy doses of mercury-based drugs, and even opium were standard therapeutic approaches throughout the nineteenth century."
Another estimate I have read--I think in James Burke's Connections--gives this figure for mid-19th century. But perhaps American doctors were 60 years further behind the times than English ones (-:
YHOS,
Snarkhunter
- Something from Anthro 101 Carolyn B 20:19:57 2/25/98
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