Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis

Obenchain traces the life of 19th century Hungarian obstetrician who was shunned and marginalized by colleagues for promoting a visionary but unorthodox origin of childbed fever, (puerperal fever). In an era preceding the germ theory hygienic measures were virtually non-existent. New mothers in particular contracted and died from puerperal fever. Semmelweis suspected that better hygienic measures could prevent these tragic deaths. But, surrounded by ignorance and complacency, the admittedly eccentric Semmelweis was soon marginalized and considered to be a misanthropic crank.

     

Obenchain offers an empathetic and insightful argument, arguing that Semmelweis suffered from bipolar disease, (manic-depressive psychosis). The author illuminates how colleagues, seriously misjudging Semmelweis's methodology, did so based upon ignorance and slothful behavior. 

     

In Genius Belabored, Obenchain enshrines Semmelweis in his rightful place within the pantheon of physicians and scientists whose discoveries have saved the lives of millions over time. This biography offers unique insights into the practice of medicine in this pre-modern era for the general reader, as well as well as any reader with an interest in medicine's tortuous emergence into modernity, and the general history of medicine and obstetrics.

1124460676
Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis

Obenchain traces the life of 19th century Hungarian obstetrician who was shunned and marginalized by colleagues for promoting a visionary but unorthodox origin of childbed fever, (puerperal fever). In an era preceding the germ theory hygienic measures were virtually non-existent. New mothers in particular contracted and died from puerperal fever. Semmelweis suspected that better hygienic measures could prevent these tragic deaths. But, surrounded by ignorance and complacency, the admittedly eccentric Semmelweis was soon marginalized and considered to be a misanthropic crank.

     

Obenchain offers an empathetic and insightful argument, arguing that Semmelweis suffered from bipolar disease, (manic-depressive psychosis). The author illuminates how colleagues, seriously misjudging Semmelweis's methodology, did so based upon ignorance and slothful behavior. 

     

In Genius Belabored, Obenchain enshrines Semmelweis in his rightful place within the pantheon of physicians and scientists whose discoveries have saved the lives of millions over time. This biography offers unique insights into the practice of medicine in this pre-modern era for the general reader, as well as well as any reader with an interest in medicine's tortuous emergence into modernity, and the general history of medicine and obstetrics.

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Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis

Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis

by Theodore G. Obenchain
Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis

Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis

by Theodore G. Obenchain

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Overview

Obenchain traces the life of 19th century Hungarian obstetrician who was shunned and marginalized by colleagues for promoting a visionary but unorthodox origin of childbed fever, (puerperal fever). In an era preceding the germ theory hygienic measures were virtually non-existent. New mothers in particular contracted and died from puerperal fever. Semmelweis suspected that better hygienic measures could prevent these tragic deaths. But, surrounded by ignorance and complacency, the admittedly eccentric Semmelweis was soon marginalized and considered to be a misanthropic crank.

     

Obenchain offers an empathetic and insightful argument, arguing that Semmelweis suffered from bipolar disease, (manic-depressive psychosis). The author illuminates how colleagues, seriously misjudging Semmelweis's methodology, did so based upon ignorance and slothful behavior. 

     

In Genius Belabored, Obenchain enshrines Semmelweis in his rightful place within the pantheon of physicians and scientists whose discoveries have saved the lives of millions over time. This biography offers unique insights into the practice of medicine in this pre-modern era for the general reader, as well as well as any reader with an interest in medicine's tortuous emergence into modernity, and the general history of medicine and obstetrics.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781966088172
Publisher: Authors' Tranquility Press
Publication date: 11/13/2024
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 312
File size: 6 MB

About the Author

Theodore G. Obenchain is a retired neurosurgeon with several surgical instrument patents in his name and is the author of The Victorian Vivisection Debate: Francis Power Cobbe, Experimental Science, and the “Claims of Brutes,” as well as numerous professional journal articles.

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Introduction 1

Puerperal Fever 6

Prodrome 24

Old School; New School 43

Vienna General Hospital 57

Puerperal Fever Theories 71

Assistantship 85

Enlightenment 90

Revolution 101

Semmelweis Speaks 111

Budapest 118

Aetiology 138

Reaction to Aetiology 157

Open Letters 164

Illness and Descent 179

Lower Austrian Mental Asylum 190

Resurrection 206

Notes 225

Bibliography 239

Index 245

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