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The Hospitals (Nineteenth Century America)
The Hospitals - Nineteenth Century America Author:Leonard Everett Fisher For the most part, the hospitals America had during the first half of the nineteenth century grew out of pesthouses, workhouses, and almshouses, and were dark, dirty, disease-ridden places. About nine out of every ten people who were surgical patients died either during their operations, which were performed without an anesthetic, or from infect... more »ions resulting from the operations. It is no wonder that most people refused to enter a hospital if they had the strength to resist.
By midcentury, efforts to improve conditions and patient care were taking effect. Ether, antiseptics, sterilization, and professional nursing raised the standards of care dramatically, and by the end of the century hospitals had secured a necessary and accepted place in the life of the nation. The compassion, pioneering spirit, and scientific discoveries that are in this story reflect an important part of the social history of the« less