Every time I heard the word “modern medicine”, the first thought that comes to my mind is pain management. Doctors wouldn’t perform open-heart surgery without some sort of anesthesia, nor would they do a complex brain surgery without any sort of pain control. How would these complicated procedures be possible without torturing the patient with feelings of pain and discomfort?
In my opinion, the forefront of “modern-medicine” truly began when anesthesia was first used during medical procedures such as surgeries. In lieu of modern anesthesia, patients prior to the 19th century were either given large amounts of alcohol to consume, or herbal concoctions to numb any pain.
When you come to think of it, the beginning of “modern medicine” jumpstarted in the 19th century, around the time of the birth of modern painkillers. I would have loved to be a part of this revolutionary change in the medical world.
Most procedures today would not take place without painkillers, nor would doctors even think about performing knee replacement surgery or inserting medal rods to replace shattered bones. I want to see what it would have been like to be on the brink of old world medicine and the beginning of modern day procedures.
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