Triggerband Web Journal

Whenever progress meets convention there is conflict. We see it manifested in many ways; for example, the construction of a new highway through an established neighborhood. Resistance swells and rational thought retreats. Appeals to the advantages of progress are met with entrenched attitudes and adherence to tradition. Over long periods of time progress can occur. However, it is at a very high cost to those involved in the endeavor. In the field of medicine the results of this type of conflict have been painful and personal.

During the 1840s, an Austrian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweiss noticed that women who delivered their babies in a clinic with midwives had a low incidence (1-3%) of childbirth fever. Whereas women who delivered with assistance from interns, who performed autopsies concurrently with the delivery, caught fever up to 18% of the time.

In 1843, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing on childbirth fever and noting similar results, stated he would rather have his family members delivered “unaided, in the stable, by the manger side” rather than be exposed to the “vapors of this pitiless disease.” Both men advocated that doctors wash their hands between patients, as a simple and effective means of preventing disease.

Dr. Semmelweiss developed a chlorinated lime solution interns used at the obstetrical clinic in Vienna. As a result, incidents of childbirth fever decreased drastically, to only 1-2%. Nevertheless, both doctors faced ridicule from their contemporaries. You see, the germ theory was years away and doctors simply would not believe that they could be the source of transmission of a fatal disease.

Dr. Semmelweiss urgently sought support from obstetricians in the European community. But all he found was skepticism. He showed them his results, and invited them to duplicate the same results in their own practices. When they refused his request, without reason, he called them “irresponsible murderers.”

He became so obsessed about the matter that fellow physicians, and even his own wife, concluded he was mentally imbalanced. Eventually they relieved him of his position at the Vienna General Hospital and admitted him to an insane asylum in Hungary, where he died 14 days later, at the age of 47.

As tragic as this story is for Dr. Semmelweiss personally, it was much more tragic for the millions of women who needlessly died after childbirth. The prevailing ignorance stemmed from a universal, decided rejection of clear evidence. Ignorance ran so deep that hand washing did not become accepted medical protocol until 50 years later.

A Recurring Theme

The situation above might seem extreme, but it is not. Today, as in the 1800s, attitudes exist that are comfortable for the possessor but incompatible with rational and reasonable thinking. What about hypothyroidism, which is grossly under-diagnosed and untreated in the traditional medical field? Then there is chronic Lyme disease, where doctors who prolong treatment are harassed by regulatory boards who sincerely believe they are serving the public good. Meanwhile, patients continue to suffer.

During the 1970s and 80s, many women experienced puzzling symptoms of sudden onset fatigue and muscle and joint pain. Nothing was known about this new perplexing disability. Scores of women were told it was “all in your head,” stress, or any number of burden-shifting explanations. Now we know that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia are bona fide ailments – physical manifestations of myriad factors robbing women (and sometimes men) of their health and wellbeing.

Cherilyn Typaldos