Ignaz Semmelweis: "Savior of Mothers"
Childbirth is a dangerous business, but it used to be even more so before Ignaz Semmelweis came up with a precautionary measure that would save mothers from succumbing to puerperal fever ("childbed fever"). The Hungarian physician suggested that simply washing your hands before assisting with birth would cut down on mortality rates. So in 1847 he proposed that obstetrical clinics should have higher hand washing standards. Unfortunately, his theory wasn't accepted by the medical community until after his death. But thanks to his work many lives have been saved since.
Semmelweis was born on July 1, 1818, in Buda, Hungary (which would later become Budapest). He was the fifth child in a family of ten, and his parents were wealthy grocers. He began to study law in the fall of 1837 at the University of Vienna, but he switched to medicine the next year. He received his doctorate in 1844. He was then became assistant at the obstetric clinic in Vienna.
At the time most women gave birth at home, but there were exceptions such as the poor, women carrying illegitimate children, or pregnancy complications. And if you were unlucky enough to need hospitalization you were facing mortality rates of 25 to 30 percent. When Semmelweis noticed the problem he didn't believe like the others did that the death rates were due to things like overcrowding or poor ventilation, so he started to investigate, even though he was met by opposition from his chief.
The theory Semmelweis came up with was that students at the clinic who were examining the women that had died of puerperal infection had been carrying the disease from the dissecting room to the healthy mothers in the maternity ward. His solution was simple, he ordered the students to wash their hands in a chlorinated lime solution before each examination. His results were astounding, the mortality rates in his division went from 18.27 to 1.27 percent. Then in March and August of 1848 no women died in childbirth in his division. Sadly the medical community was less than open to his findings, and in 1849 he was fired from the clinic.
His career continued though, and he eventually opened his own private practice. He married and had five children, but all was not well. Despite his efforts, many people still did not believe his theories, he began sending angry letters to prominent obstetricians in Europe. He even went so far as to call them irresponsible murderers. His wife and other contemporaries began to think he was going crazy and committed him to an asylum in 1865. He tragically died two weeks later. His cause of death was an infection caused by a wound, many think he sustained this wound being beaten by guards at the asylum.
Semmelweis was born on July 1, 1818, in Buda, Hungary (which would later become Budapest). He was the fifth child in a family of ten, and his parents were wealthy grocers. He began to study law in the fall of 1837 at the University of Vienna, but he switched to medicine the next year. He received his doctorate in 1844. He was then became assistant at the obstetric clinic in Vienna.At the time most women gave birth at home, but there were exceptions such as the poor, women carrying illegitimate children, or pregnancy complications. And if you were unlucky enough to need hospitalization you were facing mortality rates of 25 to 30 percent. When Semmelweis noticed the problem he didn't believe like the others did that the death rates were due to things like overcrowding or poor ventilation, so he started to investigate, even though he was met by opposition from his chief.
The theory Semmelweis came up with was that students at the clinic who were examining the women that had died of puerperal infection had been carrying the disease from the dissecting room to the healthy mothers in the maternity ward. His solution was simple, he ordered the students to wash their hands in a chlorinated lime solution before each examination. His results were astounding, the mortality rates in his division went from 18.27 to 1.27 percent. Then in March and August of 1848 no women died in childbirth in his division. Sadly the medical community was less than open to his findings, and in 1849 he was fired from the clinic.
His career continued though, and he eventually opened his own private practice. He married and had five children, but all was not well. Despite his efforts, many people still did not believe his theories, he began sending angry letters to prominent obstetricians in Europe. He even went so far as to call them irresponsible murderers. His wife and other contemporaries began to think he was going crazy and committed him to an asylum in 1865. He tragically died two weeks later. His cause of death was an infection caused by a wound, many think he sustained this wound being beaten by guards at the asylum.
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