Bad Medicine: Doctors Doing Harm Since Hippocrates

In Bad Medicine, historian David Wootton examines over two thousand years of Western medical practice, tracking the development of treatments from ancient Greece through the modern era. His central focus is the long period during which doctors continued to use ineffective and harmful methods despite mounting evidence against them. The book analyzes key figures and turning points in medical history, including Hippocrates, Galen, and the eventual emergence of evidence-based medicine. Wootton documents the resistance to new discoveries and techniques, exploring why medical professionals often rejected improvements that could have saved lives. Through case studies and historical records, Wootton demonstrates how bloodletting, purging, and other dangerous practices persisted for centuries while potentially beneficial innovations were dismissed. The text draws on primary sources to illustrate the human cost of medical conservatism across different time periods and cultures. This critical examination of medical history raises fundamental questions about institutional resistance to change and the relationship between tradition and progress in scientific fields. The work challenges assumptions about the steady forward march of medical advancement, suggesting instead a more complex pattern of advancement and regression.

Readers appreciate the book's thorough research and clear chronology of medical history, particularly how it challenges common assumptions about historical medical progress. Many cite the compelling examples of how ineffective or harmful treatments persisted despite evidence against them. Readers liked: - Clear writing style and accessible explanations - Focus on evidence-based historical analysis - Strong arguments about institutional resistance to change Readers disliked: - Repetitive points and examples - Occasional oversimplification of complex historical contexts - Limited coverage of non-Western medicine Several readers noted it can be dry at times and some found the tone overly negative toward historical medical practitioners. Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (289 ratings) Amazon: 4.1/5 (42 ratings) Notable review quote: "Eye-opening account of medicine's slow adoption of scientific methods, though sometimes hammers the point too hard" - Goodreads reviewer

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🔬 Despite being considered the "father of medicine," Hippocrates' famous oath actually discouraged surgery and was largely ignored by doctors for most of medical history. 💉 Between 1700 and 1800, a hospital patient was more likely to die than a healthy person of the same age who stayed home, largely due to poor hygiene and dangerous treatments. 📚 Author David Wootton is a Professor of History at the University of York and has written extensively about the history of science, including works on Galileo and the scientific revolution. 🦠 The medical establishment took nearly 200 years to accept the germ theory of disease after van Leeuwenhoek first observed microorganisms through his microscope in 1676. 🩺 Bloodletting, a practice now known to be harmful, remained a standard medical treatment for over 2,000 years and was still being recommended in medical textbooks as late as 1923.