Early Pioneers Are Usually Met With Resistance, Part II

Posted from Royal Oak, Michigan--

Once there was a man named Ignaz Semelweiss.  As head of Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, Semmelweis postulated there would be fewer deaths from infection, if doctors simply washed their hands. 

In the mid-19th century, it was common for physicians to move from patient to patient without washing their hands.  Some doctors were known to perform autopsies and then work on living people without washing. 

There was a lot of resistance to Semmelweis's theory.  The medical community initially contended that it was too much work to wash hands that many times a day.  To complicate the situation, doctors were not willing to admit they might have actually caused infection and death. 

Semmelweis was fired from his job.  He had a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum where he died at age 47. 

Today, Ignaz Semmelweis is credited with the discovery of germ theory.