Question

What could a doctor offer his patients in 1850? in 1900?

Answer 1

What could a doctor offer his patients in 1850?

The filed of medicine in the 1850s was still in its primitive stages and the doctor were till developing the treatment and regimens for the illnesses. If we consider surgery then doctors did not still have proper anesthetic and medical/ surgical procedures and the chances of patient surviving the surgery was quite low due to lack of hygiene. the germ theory still was not developed until 1870, so the cause of the illness was not determined and the available treatment and methods were used. The vaccination was not developed and people still suffered fatal deaths outcomes from illnesses. The medical imaging technique of X-rays was not developed until 1895 and hence the resultant medical anomalies were ot detected but only hypothesis were used for diagnosis. So the doctor in 1950 could not offer much to the treatment or surgery of the patient and only relied on trial and error methods which till were fatal.

What could a doctor offer his patients in 1900?

The filed of medicine was drastically different in 1900 when compared to the 1950s. During the 1900 timeline the germ theory and Koch's postulates were developed prior so disease was associated to have a related cause and the detailed and scientific understanding to the cause, symptoms and illness was available. This helped in availability of vaccine (anthrax and rabies) as preventative and treatment against many life threatening diseases. The field of surgery made major strides and safe surgery procedures and painless surgery with the help of proper anesthesia was developed. The medical imaging techniques helped in correct diagnosis and the human anatomical defects were relatively easy to detect and cure accordingly. So in terms of treatment, vaccination, safety and surgical knowledge the doctors in 1900 had a lot to offer to their patients and field of medicine was on a path to progress.