Not only was it believed to cure the sick, but also to promote vigor in the healthy. Bloodletting was considered a panacea, and it was the most common and versatile form of medical treatment. Bloodletting therapy rationale was based on the belief that removing blood eliminated “impure” fluids.
Bloodletting therapy has been widely used around the world since the time of Hippocrates in the West and primitive society in China 2. In the United States, perhaps the most infamous use of bloodletting was when doctors reportedly bled as much as 5 units (2625 ml) of blood from George Washington before he died from what was probably either acute epiglottitis or streptococcal pharyngitis 3. Bloodletting therapy is defined as the practice of treating diseases through the removal of a small amount of blood from patients 1.
0 kommentar(er)
