Advancement From Plague Doctors to Modern Medicine
If one thinks about it, the modern medical practice has advanced incredibly in the past decades. Today’s equipment, procedures, treatments, and facilities can be attributed mainly to the tireless work of different healthcare professionals. As well as financial investment, of course.
With the recent pandemic, most people have had to interact with the healthcare industry or at least think about their well-being. That subject certainly makes one consider when life was not as pleasant. The plague, specifically.
Many comparisons between the COVID-19 disaster and the Black Death were drawn, even in scientific research, but not much discussion centered on just how much medical practice and treatment changed in the time between the two (Patterson et al., 2021). The aim of this paper is to discuss the famous plague doctors and their often barbaric practices. This will help consider the dangers of not understanding infectious diseases, engaging in fringe treatments, and hopefully not taking the doctors of today for granted.
Dispelling the Myth of Competent Plague Doctors
One of the most common misconceptions regarding plague doctors is connected to their competency. Since they are often the only types of plague-related specialists we know, many assume the bird-faced people are actually skilled at their work. This, however, is entirely wrong. According to existing information and research about medieval city organization, most beak wearers were either beginners or completely unqualified (Miskimin et al., 1978). They were often the cause of larger plague outbreaks, as their treatment methods spread dangerous fluids from the infected.
In addition, the treatment methods themselves were painful and ineffective. According to the writer Daniel Rennie (2022), Plague Doctors often used human excrement to treat wounds, applied red-hot iron to the diseased bodies, and practiced bloodletting. None of these procedures could help the patients or alleviate the pain; instead, they only worsened their condition.
In this vein, the appearance of a plague doctor was more akin to the arrival of death itself, instead of treatment. However, one important thing these people did manage to do was popularize the use of protective gear in medicine. Of course, as discussed by CBS, the modern medical equipment is much less scary-looking and more effective (Hawthorn, 2020).Â
References
Cohen, J. (2011). Can we stop blaming rats for the Black Death? HISTORY. Web.
Hawthorn, A. (2020). Plague doctors and PPE: Today’s gear has nothing on the medical garb of the Renaissance | CBC news. CBC. Web.
Miskimin, H. A., Herlihy, D., & Udovitch, A. L. (1978). The medieval city. Yale University Press.
Patterson, G. E., McIntyre, K. M., Clough, H. E., & Rushton, J. (2021). Societal impacts of pandemics: Comparing COVID-19 with history to focus our response. Frontiers in Public Health, 9. Web.
Rennie, D. (2022). Behind the beaked mask: The terrifying job of a medieval plague doctor. All That’s Interesting. Web.