Overview

This book explores aspects of medical history that are usually overlooked by medical historians. It begins with anthropologic literature and accounts of the early explorers which describe sophisticated medical treatments and wound care by Native Americans that were superior to European practices at the time. The book also shows that the Samhita Sushruta, an ancient Indian medical text, and one of Socrates’ dialogues answer the age-old question of Hippocrates’ dictum against abortion and operating for bladder stones. It then dwells at length on the University of Edinburgh, the shining center of medical education from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, and provides biographical sketches to trace the history of American surgery from the early 19th century to the age of surgical staplers and minimally invasive operations. In addition, the book details the author’s experience with the greedy for-profit health care system and super specialization, providing the basis for suggestions to reform medical education and a not-for-profit, universal, non-governmental, regionalized system for the delivery of health care. Overall, the book will enhance the education of medical students and appeal to physicians with an interest in history.

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9781527578012

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Dr John Raffensperger graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1953, before interning at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He then served as a medical officer on an aircraft carrier, where he performed his first appendectomies and treated sailors with venereal diseases. Dr Raffensperger trained in general and cardiac surgery, and then specialized in pediatric surgery. He is board-certified in General, Thoracic and Pediatric Surgery, and served as the Surgeon-in-Chief at the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Professor of Surgery at the Northwestern University. In addition to writing more than 150 articles and book chapters, Dr Raffensperger authored four textbooks, two of which had second editions. He has also written on medical history, ethics and health issues related to our deteriorating environment. In retirement, he writes medically flavored fiction and children’s stories.

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