Civil War Medical Surgery Essay

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How the Civil War Modernized Surgery and Amputations Antebellum medicine, in modern terms, lacked adequate treatments and supporting research. Most treatments of the time period were nostrums, medicines sold with false support evidence and no medical value. One of the most ineffective remedies of the Antebellum period was the fungicide calomel, which was often used to treat cholera. Its high concentration of mercury often killed the patient if it somehow cured them of their initial disease. Because the general medical field was lacking, the most common cause of death at the time period was disease. Along with the amateur medicinal practices of the time period, minimal surgical knowledge and lack of training plagued hospitals. From 1836 to 1846, Massachusetts General Hospital performed merely thirty-nine surgeries annually. As the Antebellum period ended and the Civil War began, however, the number of annual surgeries increased exponentially, rising from merely thirty-nine to 20,000 operations performed (Schroeder-Lein). As a direct result of the quick transition, surgeons were relatively unequipped and unprepared for the influx of wounded soldiers. This precedent would lay the foundation for a medically gruesome war. …show more content…
Jonathan Letterman’s cevacuation system called for large hospitals for long term patients. These overpopulated hospitals created a perfect environment for the spread of gangrene. Extremely contagious and fast moving, gangrene blocked off arteries, causing tissue to die and fall off (Schroeder-Lein). Although doctors developed a bromine solution to clean and prevent the infection, 46% of patients who contracted gangrene died (Bollet). The infection not only affected an amputee’s health, it necessitated further amputations as well. Because medics neglected to use sterile equipment, gangrene ran rampant in hospitals, creating separate wards for those with gangrene and those

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