Posted on 01/15/2016 11:03:01 AM PST by C19fan
Imagine having an operation without anaesthetic. Before 1846, when the first procedure using pain-numbing drugs was carried out, this was was the norm. Hamfisted and brutal, surgeons cut patients open, cracked bones and tied up arteries while they were completely conscious. Not for the squeamish, a new book contains detailed images from rare surgical textbooks discovered from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The gruesome images show eyeballs pierced, brains being sliced and feet being hacked off – and all without anaesthetic. The book, called Crucial Interventions, was drawn from The Wellcome Collection’s library, and narrated by medical historian Richard Barnett.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Gruesome indeed. And there was a time when this was done without anesthesia. I think I’d tell them to just let me die.
In 50 years, current medicine will seem just as barbaric.
Holy crap.
And I felt sorry for myself for having arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.
More of an ISIS handbook.
I’ve read some brutal witness writings about the civil war..those poor men/boys. Especially towards end of war, Confederate “hospital” conditions were horrible.
Thankful live in the era of modern medicine.]
My husband had heart valve replaced this past spring.
He is doing fantastic! 64 years young...
They actually stop the heart and take it out of the body. They do about 10 of those surgeries a day.
These photos are amazing. Its how we got to where we are.
I always say, thank GOD we live in the times we live.
GO TRUMP! ; )
“In 50 years, current medicine will seem just as barbaric.”
With Obamacare, I think it will be the other way around.
The scene of Dr. McCoy in a late 20th century hospital. :)
Pain medicine and antiseptics, along with lazers and sharp instruments are a big plus, but doctors are still not far removed from butchery of that time. They are better at it, much less invasive, but they have so much farther to go. Too bad government has taken over medicine. Innovation will die out unless the trend to collectivism is stopped.
McCoy: [probing Chekov’s head] Tearing of the middle meningeal artery...
Doctor #1: What’s your degree in, dentistry?
McCoy: How do YOU explain slowing pulse, low respiratory rate and coma?
Doctor #1: Fundascopic examination!
McCoy: Fundascopic examination is unrevealing in these cases!
Doctor #1: A simple evacuation of the epidural hematoma will relieve the pressure!
McCoy: My God man, drilling holes in his head is not the answer! The artery must be repaired! Now, put away your butcher’s knives and let me save this patient before it’s too late!
But sadly you live in an era of idiot journalists who lack basic life skills.
Barbabaric would have been not to render medical care since there was no anesthetic.
I think that of abortion.
Wrong date. 1842.
And anytime anyone has pain free surgery due to anesthesia, they should be thankful that the University of Georgia has always earned its reputation as a party school.
Medieval surgeons must be satanic or something to do what they did.
I have a customer that has this stuff all over his house including hanging on walls in the dining area.
Modern surgeons do mostly the same hacking, chopping and cutting today (although I can see any reason to split someone’s tongue in half...)
We just have better instruments, better anesthetics, better sanitation, antibiotics, and everyone is wearing really cool looking gowns.
In 100 years from now, our much of our surgery today will probably seem extraordinarily unnecessary and painful as well.
Right. Imagine getting a rusty, dull saw out of your garage and having someone tie you down and saw your leg off without any anesthesia. Absolutely brutal.
Or they lived in a time when the onset of gangrene was a death sentence and they were trying to learn how to save at least a few.
Your perspective requires you to ignore entirely (not just minimize) how short life was just from infection a alone.
Read a lot of period literature.
I had a torn Rotator cuff too.
Worst year of my life, physically and pain-wise.
I can fully understand why people get addicted to pain killers.
I have a ton of hydrocodone left over, in case I have to perform surgery on the kitchen table after TSHTF.
I will never use it all in my lifetime.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.