"Medical and surgical care during the American Civil War," Topic
3 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please don't call someone a Nazi unless they really are a Nazi.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the ACW Discussion Message Board
Areas of InterestAmerican Civil War
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Featured Ruleset
Featured Showcase Article
|
Tango01 | 11 Dec 2020 8:54 p.m. PST |
… 1861–1865 "This review describes medical and surgical care during the American Civil War. This era is often referred to in a negative way as the Middle Ages of medicine in the United States. Many misconceptions exist regarding the quality of care during the war. It is commonly believed that surgery was often done without anesthesia, that many unnecessary amputations were done, and that care was not state of the art for the times. None of these assertions is true. Physicians were practicing in an era before the germ theory of disease was established, before sterile technique and antisepsis were known, with very few effective medications, and often operating 48 to 72 hours with no sleep. Each side was woefully unprepared, in all aspects, for the extent of the war and misjudged the degree to which each would fight for their cause. Despite this, many medical advances and discoveries occurred as a result of the work of dedicated physicians on both sides of the conflict…" Main page link Amicalement Armand |
Thresher01 | 15 Dec 2020 7:58 p.m. PST |
"Surgical care" is suspect is a rather dubious claim, and a bit of an oxymoron. "Medical care" during the Civil War was about as advanced as it was in the Napoleonic, and/or earlier medieval eras, with "surgeons" wielding saws and other crude devices to deal with major appendage injuries by lopping those off to prevent gangrene, etc., and sewing up holes when needed. Very crude, but moderately effective, I suppose, even if the treatments did border on torture for the patients who regularly lacked anesthesia. |
donlowry | 16 Dec 2020 9:51 a.m. PST |
The anesthesia, at least on the battlefield, was, preferably, laudanum, which is a mixture of alcohol and opium. When that ran out, whiskey. When that ran out … grit your teeth. There are numerous tales of men who refused an amputation. Some lived anyway. Some didn't. |
|