EDUCATION’S LEECHES
George Washington woke up on December 14, 1799, with a very sore throat. When it worsened, the doctors were summoned. Naturally, Washington, who had left office just two years earlier, received the very best care from the most knowledgeable and competent doctors, those at the top of the medical profession.**
Their expert diagnosis: Washington’s four ‘humors’ or bodily fluids, were out of balance. This analysis was based on a 1500-year-old Greek theory and accepted as scientific fact: The human body is regulated by four fluids: blood, phlegm, bile, and black bile. “The group of fourth- and third-century BC physicians known as the Hippocratics who formulated (and more importantly wrote about) their theories, were the first organized group to consider that illness had natural—not supernatural—causes.”
Illness, they believed, resulted when the four humors were out of balance, as they must have been in Washington’s case.
The doctors set about rebalancing Washington’s system. To do this, they followed a scientifically approved medical procedure: They drained 80 ounces of his blood, close to 40 percent of his body’s total!
Whether they did this by opening one or more of his veins or by attaching leeches to his body is unclear. Both procedures were normal.
Unfortunately, the treatment did not work; in fact, it might have killed him, or at least hastened his demise, because our first President died later that same day.
Did bloodletting kill George Washington? “Many doctors, in fact, believed that bloodletting or the removal of a portion of an ill person’s blood could improve their condition. CONTINUE READING: EDUCATION’S LEECHES | The Merrow Report
