I had to get records from a surgery I had 47 years ago. I was stunned. It was a major surgery and the hand typed surgical notes were only one half of a page. Things were so much simpler back then
Yes things were simpler back then. You could get whatever you wanted from the druggist w/o a prescription. But that included so called patent medicines. And life expectancy was 47.
I had major surgery a few years ago, and the surgeon’s report was done on a cartoon like drawing with a couple of arrows and less than 20 words about what he did.