Question here

[BigCougsFan]

I don't know where to look for this. I'm not a doctor of any kind. I'm sure there is someone here who has some sort of knowledge.

Today we have a great Institute that is ran by a frUte. Huntsman Cancer Institute. They work on... Well... Obviously cancer. They are one of the best in what they do.

I'm not talking about cancer specifically. I'm interested in disease as a whole.

The Huntsman Cancer Institute works with thousands of people who have cancer yearly, and that doesn't count for the other doctors who practice on patients with any sort of disease.

My question is: Back in the 1800's, in our Church(LDS). How many cancern treatments where there? How many doctors where really needed back then? Other than a doctor to fix a broken bone or fix some sort of human mechanical mishap.

Is the percentage of our population now with cancer/disease the same as it was back in the 1800's?

[SpiffCoug]

How many people lived long enough to develop cancer?

[hawkwing]

How many people died from cancer before they knew what it was?

[BigCougsFan]

All good questions.

I know people lived through their 70,80, and 90's from 1850-1950's. We read about them in our Church history.

BUT

There were some who died in their 20 and 30's.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[BroncoBot]

Early church history had little to none of what we consider modern medicine. Joseph Smith's brother Alvin died after doctors gave him MERCURY! Vaccines, imaging, general knowledge of infection were almost non-existant. It's scary and crazy to see the drawing of doctors in the 1800s doing surgery in street clothes basically.

Whether or not people had cancer more would be difficult to determine because I'm sure a lot of deaths were due to unknown causes. Did anyone see john adams (HBO series?). I think they portrayed how medicine was approached in the late 1700's early 1800's well. It if is a lump or a growth, just cut it off and hope it hasn't metastasized.

[byutx]

One of my favorite stories about 19th century/early 20th century medicine involves X-rays. When the technology was in its infancy, shoe shop owners bought the machines so people could look through a viewfinder and see if the shoes fit properly.

Shoe shop owner and employee deaths and illnesses skyrocketed. Even people in nearby shops often suffered from the effects of the radiation. Good times.

[jvquarterback]

Radiation to treat cancer was the first non-surgical treatment and was not proposed until the early 20th century. Chemotherapy was introduced in the the 1940s.

Surgery had poor results until more hygenic processes were developed in the late 19th century.

I suppose you could include public health options as well -- some of the causes of cancer were postulated as early as the late 18th century when chimney sweeps in England were found to have higher rates of scrotal cancer. Along this vein, you may view the D+C 89 as a type of preventive cancer treatment. Also the taboo of marriage among close relatives can be viewed in this light.

[Mars]

Back in the day, if you were sick and you were treated by a nurse, you usually lived. If you were sick and you were treated by a doctor, you usually died. Why? Doctors learned about the human body by dissecting corpses. They would then use those same tools, unwashed, on their patients, not knowing anything about infection. Crazy.

In fact, the #1 cause of death in hospitals today is still infection. And the #1 cause of infection? Doctors not washing their hands. And female nurses are still much better at doing that than doctors. So I guess not much has changed.

[CougarClaw]

I think the funniest thing is that we now think we are "advanced" and "developed" and "modern" when in reality, those same adjectives were used to describe doctors and medicine at that time that seems so barbaric.

It's true that we know exponentially more than we did then, but we are still fumbling in the dark just as much now as they were then. In 200 years, they'll be looking at today's medicine as ignorant, crazy, and reckless. yay for science!

[BroncoBot]

I think the funniest thing is that we now think we are "advanced" and "developed" and "modern" when in reality, those same adjectives were used to describe doctors and medicine at that time that seems so barbaric.

It's true that we know exponentially more than we did then, but we are still fumbling in the dark just as much now as they were then. In 200 years, they'll be looking at today's medicine as ignorant, crazy, and reckless. yay for science!

I'm wondering how much Obamacare (hopefully gets repealed, saw a huge first step today) will slow down the medical technologies train.