flamey thing, modern depictions of historical medicine

oilan:

Oh you mean that hill I’ll die on?

Mostly modern depictions of historical medicine are done poorly, and done too much from the modern perspective of knowing so much more about biological processes, about working in sanitary conditions, of the biochemical mechanisms that allow medications to cure disease, of the current and heavily regulated clinical trial process, etc etc. They never get into why people thought certain cures work, that there was a lot of experimentation and theory behind it too, or that doctors where just not at a place along the historical progress of science to see if those theories were wrong.

Science and medicine is a PROCESS and we, like doctors in the past, are just one step along that process of learning. And I just wish it was acknowledged that all the advancements we have today are in large part because historical doctors and scientists laid the foundation for them. All too often, the trials and failures are chalked up to silliness, uncleanliness, and stupidity (looking at you, Sawbones podcast. I’ve rage quit you more times than I can count)

Also, the things historical doctors were GOOD at are never acknowledged. 19th century doctors may not have had germ theory or swore by the four humours and the like, but they were really good at things like anatomy, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without all their dissections and studies. And they may not have had everything right, but neither do we! There are still so many things we still don’t know, and probably have wrong as well, that future generations are going to look back on as us being stupid and primitive! There are literally medications (as per my partner Dr Zac) that seem to work, and are proscribed to patients, but we don’t know the mechanism behind them! Do they really work or is the placebo effect just really strong in those cases? We literally don’t know! We have very effective pain medications, but the side effects are so terrible they have caused an opioid addiction crisis in the US! Do people not think future generations will look back at us like “those stupid 21st century people! With their side effects worse than the actual disease!” just like we go “those stupid 19th century doctors, with their bloodletting and surgery without anesthesia! How barbaric!”