[bitt]

p

[fso301]

Most people throughout history probably died unpleasant deaths.

Back then, you were probably better off not going to a doctor.

[Enchante]

“Finest medical care” as in bleeding him repeatedly and poisoning him with mercury. Yeah, it must have been amazing when anyone survived the “medicine” of that age.

[Vision]

Heartbreaking. WE LOVE YOU GW!

[Chainmail]

God rest his soul.

[jerseyman]

Well, “the finest medical care available” wasn’t all that fine in 1799, so he died unpleasantly.

[Neoliberalnot]

They essentially bled Washington to death. He was utterly so anemic he could barely move oxygen to his vital organs.

[Mozzafiato]

In 100 years, they’ll be writing about how we all died unpleasantly in this day and age.

[Ken H]

GW would have had opium available to him. The federal government did not concern itself with such matters in those days.

[odawg]

I think he also had a horse doctor in attendance.

Washington liked to keep records, and he regularly checked his own pulse as he lay dying.

He was placed in two coffins, which were then encased in lead. About twenty or thirty years later, when a new burial chamber was constructed, his coffin was opened to verify it was him. He was extremely preserved and recognizable, but his hair was gone. He probably is still preserved very well.

[Salvation]

Incredible story. Thanks be to God that medicine has improved.

[foreverfree]

Bump from a two time Mt. Vernon visitor, 29 years apart.

ff

[jonascord]

It is the curse of celebrity. The more famous you are, the more doctors will crowd around with their latest quack nostrums to cure you and gain some share of your fame.

Example: President Garfield would have probably survived his gun shot if it hadn't been for 20 'doctors' sticking their fingers in the hole, and pontificating...

[RegulatorCountry]

I don’t doubt that there’s a great deal of current medical practice that will appear barbaric and even stupid 200 years hence, too, particularly in dealing with cancer.

[Moonman62]

IIRC, he went out in bad weather that day and died that night. The person there said he died peacefully, without any sign of distress.

[Yaelle]

And today herbs, which still heal, are still thought of as quack remedies, and the doctors do drastic chemo and immune destroying treatments, chopping up patients and torturing them with drugs. Not always. Good docs save lives. But we still have treatment by consensus more than by science.

[kanawa]

bfl

[wardaddy]

This should make race baiters and south bashers and America haters happy

After all he owned a lot of slaves and prolly said nigra from time to time I’d wager

[wardaddy]

A bitter loss ....

[mairdie]

Medical Electricity, 1802
Medical Conditions (cured with electricity)

And then there was the question of how you used the electricity that you'd gathered with your lightning rod and saved. My favorite part is where they warn you not to zap the electricity into someone's eye but pass it NEAR the eye and use your hand to gently waft it TOWARD the eye.

Couldn't resist scanning the book in. It's a fun read as long as you don't try it at home.

The book was owned by Gilbert Livingston, the brother of Henry Livingston, of Night Before Christmas. In a book on the "What Ifs" of history, the question is put, "'[What] If Gilbert Livingston Had Not Voted New York Into the Union.' The answer Chamberlin gives is that Rhode Island and North Carolina would have not ratified the constitution, and the country would never have been joined into a truly United States."