Beyond Bloodletting:
FDA Gives Leeches a Medical Makeover
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/504_leech.html
Gosh, thanks! Did you notice that I already wrote of current uses for leeches in medicine.
George Washington did not have a skin graft or a surgically-replaced extremity. The reason he was being bled by leeches had nothing to do with how they are being used (albeit rarely) today.
He was being treated by a doctor who BELIEVED that leeches would help him. The doctor had no reason to believe that, but he believed it ON FAITH. George Washington died from being leeched.