this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2024
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Doctor Ignaz Semmelweiss in the mid-1800s suggested that obstetricians should wash and sterilize their hands before attending their patients to reduce the chance of postpartum infection. He was rejected by the medical community, ridiculed by colleagues, and eventually locked in an asylum where he was killed.
We're sliding back in time.
People forget the most important bit. The clapback to Semmelweiss from other doctors was "A doctor's hands are always clean!"
Humans are irrational fucking idiots and we prove it daily. The number of us who are willing to protect our own in-group over things they don't deserve to be protected over is too damn high.
"A doctor's hands are always clean!"
That's when Semmelweiss should have rubbed dog shit on his hands and tried to rub them on these doctors' face.
That is far less cool.
But it's very interesting to think where we would be technologically and socially if humans weren't such assholes
Semmelweiss is also partially responsible for the widespread rejection of his findings. He basically called doctors who did not follow his advice murderers which naturally didn't help his popularity. Antagonising someone who you are trying to convince usually just entrenches their opinions further.