Mickey Starling reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Today, we find plenty to complain about in the medical field. Lengthy waits for appointments, high insurance premiums and medicine side effects are just a few of the concerns many folks express. To appreciate where we are today, perhaps a glance at earlier adventures in medicine might brighten our outlook a bit. For example, consider the average blood transfusion, which causes barely the lifting of an eyebrow today. Many donate blood on a regular basis without the slightest concern. Leap back into time, and a different picture unfolds. In the 17th Century, Dr. Richard Lower devised a method of transferring blood without the common problem of coagulation, or so he thought. He used a lamb as the blood donor, as human donors often died during the process. The good doctor had previously used a dog for transfusions, but when a mentally ill patient was in need of blood, he hoped the gentle lamb would transfer their temperament to perhaps restore the patient’s mental health. While the patient survived, his mental issues continued. Transfusions continued to result in many deaths in the coming years, so the practice was abandoned for 150 years. Enter Dr. James Bovell, devised an interesting theory, void of any scientific proof or testing, but interesting nonetheless. He believed the fatty particles in milk would turn into white blood cells after being injected into the bloodstream. Perhaps, his belief was based in the fact that milk was white, so surely when it was mixed with blood, white blood cells would be produced. The first patient to come in about a quart low was given 12 ounces of moo juice. Amazingly, the man survived the treatment and his health improved, though it is rumored he took a strange liking to eating grass. The next patient was equally successful. However, the following five patients died, usually going into a coma and never waking. Despite the poor success rate of milk transfusions, they remained popular for survivors for several years. Dr. Joseph Howe conjured a theory that animal milk was the culprit in the deaths of those receiving milk transfusions, so he gathered a few ounces of human milk and tested it on a woman suffering from a lung disease. She stopped breathing almost instantly upon receiving the transfusion. However, Dr. Howe quickly began attempting to resuscitate the woman by all means necessary, including injecting her with a cocktail of morphine and whiskey. Though she was high and drunk as a coot, she survived. Fortunately for folks and bovine everywhere, the practice of milk transfusions dried up by 1854. The true problem with blood transfusions was the lack of understanding of blood types. That discovery didn’t come around until 1901, when blood types were discovered by Dr. Karl Landsteiner. Methods of reducing coagulation were also improved around the same time period. The sad history of milk transfusions reminds us to be careful of jumping on the bandwagon of popular trends. Sometimes, signing up for the “in” thing could result in permanently checking out.