Healthcare acquired infections: Even Pres. Garfield

The saddest part of the story of the assassination attempt on Pres. Garfield more than 100 years ago is the medical treatment he received in the months after he was shot.  Joseph Lister had recently shown that antisepsis [sterile conditions] greatly reduced infections, so doctors throughout Europe had already widely started using carbolic acid and other practices.  But Garfield's doctors repeatedly poked into his bullet wound with unwashed hands and probes, causing infections that ultimately killed him.

The story is so so sad because it's so familiar.  Healthcare-acquired infections still injure many thousands of patients.  Evidence-based practices to prevent them often go unused.

The head physician treating Garfield even had the gall to bill the government the equivalent of $1 million in today's dollars for his treatment.  This, too, feels far too familiar, as payers continue to pay exorbitant prices on our behalf for medical errors.

Advice:  Read Candice Millard's excellent book, The Destiny of the Republic.

Read another president's medical story.