The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine

Treatment is aimed at removing the cause of the disease or reducing its symptoms. The therapies used can be controversial, but patients agree to a lot to get rid of persistent ailments. For centuries, doctors were well aware of this, so they often experimented on their patients, convinced that their methods really worked. The problem is that cruel practices often did more harm than good, and in retrospect they were closer to torture than treatment.

1. One of the most popular controversial therapies was phlebotomy, or bloodletting. Even two liters of blood were removed at a time, and patients often did not survive the procedure
2. In the wake of the discovery of radium by the Curie couple, radioactive baths became fashionable as a therapeutic agent
3. In the USA, it was popular to use a special powder for itchy gums that contained mercury chloride in infants. The effects were dire
4. Also in the United States, the practice was conducted by a “doctor” who transplanted testicles to his patients – the goat glands were the replacement
5. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine. Phlebotomy

Phlebotomy, or removing blood from the body to cure or prevent a disease from developing, has been a medical practice since antiquity. The method was based on the theories of the Roman physician Galen, who believed that blood deteriorates in the body and must be removed as waste. Anatom was also convinced that the so-called humors (juices), that is, phlegm, yellow and black bile and blood. If something was wrong with the body, the balance between them was probably disturbed. In such a situation, he recommended getting rid of excess juices – inducing vomiting, taking diuretics and just bloodletting. Blood was withdrawn from the body in liters. There are known cases when the patient fainted from weakness and died a few days after phlebotomy. Such was the fate of, among others, US President George Washington, who was given two liters of blood to cure him of an infection in … his throat.

Even more tragic results turned out to be the therapy applied to the king of England and Scotland, Charles II Stuart, who had kidney disease. The ruler suffered real torments not only from ailments, but also from cruel therapies that were used by court medics with enthusiasm: from covering him with bird droppings and feeding him with potions made from animal organs, through numerous enemas, to bleeding of blood.

The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine. Radioactive baths

Delaying the aging process as an extremely fashionable trend is not a sign of our times. Our ancestors, who were interested in medical novelties and willing to experiment to give themselves a chance for eternal youth, had similar aspirations.

One of such solutions was radiation, and more specifically – baths filled with… radium. Discovered by Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Piotr Curie, the element was initially described in superlatives as a drug that can not only effectively destroy cancer cells, but also intensify certain biological processes or the action of pituitary gland hormones, and delay aging. On the wave of this discovery in sanatoriums, health resorts and hotels, infrastructure for radioactive baths and inhalations began to appear like mushrooms after the rain. People flocked to them, convinced that the ionizing radiation would keep their body in perfect shape. Year by year, the enthusiasm of doctors and scientists decreased and the widespread use of radium in the treatment of certain diseases was eventually abandoned, citing the thesis that there is no safe dose of radiation.

The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine. Trepanation of the skull

Skull trepanation is a surgical procedure also used in modern medicine. The opening in the skull is most often made as a result of post-accident injuries, when the hematoma has formed, and drilling into the skeleton of the head is to decompress it. There are more indications for surgery, but none has much to do with the reasons why patients underwent trepanation several hundred years ago.

The trepan – as a tool for drilling into the patient’s head – was already used in prehistoric times, and this method was extremely popular among ancient medics, with the famous anatomist Galen at the forefront. The problem is that the patients with various problems, not only neurological, were subjected to the procedure.

It was commonly believed that trepanation of the skull allows to “cleanse” the head of mental illness, as well as the presence of … an evil spirit. Through the holes drilled with a sharp tool, undesirable energy was said to escape rapidly. So is the lives of many unfortunates who have died of postoperative complications.

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The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine. Mercury for teething

Calomel, or mercury chloride, is a compound that is widely used, among others, in pyrotechnics and the fight against fungi, insects and weeds. Despite its high toxicity, it has long been used to treat some syphilitic lesions, acne and skin diseases. The relationship, known to medics since the XNUMXth century, was also used in psychiatric and infectious therapy (for example in patients with yellow fever), and there were also cases of treatment with calomel, for constipation, flu and melancholy.

The most surprising and at the same time chilling application of mercury chloride was found by American producers of teething powder. Parents pulled crowds for the magic, not realizing that they were administering poison to their children. There is a famous story of a girl who was feverish, thin in her eyes and, crying in exasperation, scratched her itchy skin, tearing it to blood. When similar symptoms began to appear in other children, it was established that the common denominator was the use of calomel teething powder. Nevertheless, mercury chloride treatments were not discontinued until the beginning of the XNUMXth century.

The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine. Lobotomy

When we hear about psychosurgery, we often think of scenes from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – a cult novel (and later also a movie based on it), the characters of which (patients of a psychiatric hospital) were subjected to controversial treatments for the diseases they suffered from. Ken Kesey – the author of the work – did not come up with any of them, however. These therapies have been used successfully in patients with mental disorders for years. Lobotomy was one of them.

The procedure, consisting in cutting the connections of the prefrontal cortex with other structures of the brain, was used, among others, to treat schizophrenia, anxiety, delusions, hallucinations and even insomnia (in Europe it was believed that it was an excellent method to cure … homosexuality). Its popularity did not come from nothing. The first patients who underwent lobotomy did indeed show an improvement – the symptoms of the diseases disappeared or decreased significantly, and the patients regained peace of mind and emotional stability.

The problem arose when the statistics of postoperative complications began to rise dangerously. It turned out that although the mental state of the patients did improve, their personality changed. There were also episodes of epilepsy, dementia, intracranial haemorrhage and brain abscesses, and some patients relapsed over time. The mortality rate also increased, which in the mid-twentieth century was even 7,4%. Despite this, the procedure was commonly used in the wards of psychiatric hospitals, as well as non-hospitalized patients, including disabled people and children. In the United States alone, up to the 60s, nearly 60 this type of operation.

The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine. Goat testicles for impotence

Infertility is not a disorder that arose yesterday – for centuries people have struggled with a problem of this nature. And for centuries they searched for “medicine” against it. As you can easily guess, a strong desire to have children, confronted with a physical impotence, was for many “stout heads” a tempting field for … abuses. A good example is the story of an American “doctor” – or rather a quack, because John R. Brinkley had just bought a medical degree – who in the first half of the twentieth century found a miracle “cure” for impotence.

The source of this controversial “invention” was a conversation with one of the patients who urged the doctor to help his “ailing” friend. Brinkley was then supposed to joke that faced with such a problem, it would be best to have goat testicles. The interviewee grasped this comparison and said that a friend would be willing to take part in such an experiment. The charlatan did not take long to convince.

He performed the operation, and the transplanted glands were supposed to take on very well. It was enough for the fraudster to launch a powerful marketing machine, promoting his treatment with a flourish worthy of today’s advertising campaigns. There was no shortage of willing people, and Brinkley quickly made a fortune (for one testicular transplant he was paid the equivalent of today’s $ 10).

The main evidence of the effectiveness of the therapy was reportedly a child born by the wife of one of the quack’s patients. The deal, however, could not have a future. Patients became seriously ill and even died as a result of complications (mainly infections) after transplantation. Brinkley was charged, bankrupted, and had to come to terms with the fact that the use of cruel therapies was not without consequences. Ultimately, if the law of the time does not claim their victims, history will.

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