Worth pointing out, the 1800s had an elevated rate of deaths from childbirth compared to both before and after. This was because women having doctors help deliver the baby (instead of a midwife) had become common by that point, but germ theory still hadnt caught on and doctors hygeine was poor.
Midwives actually had better rates for mother's survival in the 1800s because unlike the doctors they weren't touching sick people all day. Whereas doctors went straight from touching corpses and draining cysts to sticking their hands up in the uterus, which led to deadly infections, midwives didnt handle biohazards.
Doctors of the day were so desperate to look better than midwives that they actually cancelled one of the most important figures in germ theory because he told them to wash their hands before delivering a baby. (And by extension, implied that they had killed women previously by not washing their hands.)
The guy's name was Ignaz Semmelweis and he died in disgrace for the crime of trying to save women from doctors and their pathological arrogance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
"Semmelweis was puzzled that puerperal fever was rare among women giving street births. "To me, it appeared logical that patients who experienced street births would become ill at least as frequently as those who delivered in the clinic. [...] What protected those who delivered outside the clinic from these destructive unknown endemic influences?"
Yeah, you read that right, it was safer to push out a baby on the street than in the hospital. But people preferred hospitals because they got childcare benefits if they did things the "right way," and none if they gave birth at home. Thanks government.
And the dude who figured it out was checked into an insane asylum against his will and died from the beatings and resultant gangrene.
Moral of the story: never cross the government or interrupt their collusion with the medical system.
Also worth point out that most mother's mortality stats from ye olden days only track hospitals, because no one was recording the home births. But hospitals were the least safe place to deliver a child, which drags the averages artificially higher than they really were.
Worth pointing out, the 1800s had an elevated rate of deaths from childbirth compared to both before and after. This was because women having doctors help deliver the baby (instead of a midwife) had become common by that point, but germ theory still hadnt caught on and doctors hygeine was poor.
Midwives actually had better rates for mother's survival in the 1800s because unlike the doctors they weren't touching sick people all day. Whereas doctors went straight from touching corpses and draining cysts to sticking their hands up in the uterus, which led to deadly infections, midwives didnt handle biohazards.
Doctors of the day were so desperate to look better than midwives that they actually cancelled one of the most important figures in germ theory because he told them to wash their hands before delivering a baby. (And by extension, implied that they had killed women previously by not washing their hands.)
The guy's name was Ignaz Semmelweis and he died in disgrace for the crime of trying to save women from doctors and their pathological arrogance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
"Semmelweis was puzzled that puerperal fever was rare among women giving street births. "To me, it appeared logical that patients who experienced street births would become ill at least as frequently as those who delivered in the clinic. [...] What protected those who delivered outside the clinic from these destructive unknown endemic influences?"
Yeah, you read that right, it was safer to push out a baby on the street than in the hospital. But people preferred hospitals because they got childcare benefits if they did things the "right way," and none if they gave birth at home. Thanks government.
And the dude who figured it out was checked into an insane asylum against his will and died from the beatings and resultant gangrene.
Moral of the story: never cross the government or interrupt their collusion with the medical system.
Worth pointing out, the 1800s had an elevated rate of deaths from childbirth compared to both before and after. This was because women having doctors help deliver the baby (instead of a midwife) had become common by that point, but germ theory still hadnt caught on and doctors hygeine was poor.
Midwives actually had better rates for mother's survival in the 1800s because unlike the doctors they weren't touching sick people all day. Whereas doctors went straight from touching corpses and draining cysts to sticking their hands up in the uterus, which led to deadly infections, midwives didnt handle biohazards.
Doctors of the day were so desperate to look better than midwives that they actually cancelled one of the most important figures in germ theory because he told them to wash their hands before delivering a baby. (And by extension, implied that they had killed women previously by not washing their hands.)
The guy's name was Ignaz Semmelweis and he died in disgrace for the crime of trying to save women from doctors and their pathological arrogance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
"Semmelweis was puzzled that puerperal fever was rare among women giving street births. "To me, it appeared logical that patients who experienced street births would become ill at least as frequently as those who delivered in the clinic. [...] What protected those who delivered outside the clinic from these destructive unknown endemic influences?"
Yeah, you read that right, it was safer to push out a baby on the street than in the hospital. But people preferred hospitals because they got childcare benefits if they did things the "right way," and none if they gave birth at home.
Worth pointing out, the 1800s had an elevated rate of deaths from childbirth compared to both before and after. This was because women having doctors help deliver the baby (instead of a midwife) had become common by that point, but germ theory still hadnt caught on and doctors hygeine was poor.
Midwives actually had better rates for mother's survival in the 1800s because unlike the doctors they weren't touching sick people all day. Whereas doctors went straight from touching corpses and draining cysts to sticking their hands up in the uterus, which led to deadly infections, midwives rinsed their hands first just out of custom, and didnt handle biohazards.
Doctors of the day were so desperate to look better than midwives that they actually cancelled one of the most important figures in germ theory because he told them to wash their hands before delivering a baby. (And by extension, implied that they had killed women previously by not washing their hands.)
The guy's name was Ignaz Semmelweis and he died in disgrace for the crime of trying to save women from doctors and their pathological arrogance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
"Semmelweis was puzzled that puerperal fever was rare among women giving street births. "To me, it appeared logical that patients who experienced street births would become ill at least as frequently as those who delivered in the clinic. [...] What protected those who delivered outside the clinic from these destructive unknown endemic influences?"
Yeah, you read that right, it was safer to push out a baby on the street than in the hospital. But people preferred hospitals because they got childcare benefits if they did things the "right way," and none if they gave birth at home.
Worth pointing out, the 1800s had an elevated rate of deaths from childbirth compared to both before and after. This was because women having doctors help deliver the baby (instead of a midwife) had become common by that point, but germ theory still hadnt caught on and doctors hygeine was poor.
Midwives actually had better rates for mother's survival in the 1800s because unlike the doctors they weren't touching sick people all day. Whereas doctors went straight from touching corpses and draining cysts to sticking their hands up in the uterus, which led to deadly infections, midwives rinsed their hands first just out of custom, and didnt handle biohazards.
Doctors of the day were so desperate to look better than midwives that they actually cancelled one of the most important figures in germ theory because he told them to wash their hands before delivering a baby. (And by extension, implied that they had killed women previously by not washing their hands.)
The guy's name was Ignaz Semmelweis and he died in disgrace for the crime of trying to save women from doctors and their pathological arrogance.