The Semmelweis Reflex: When Doctors Rejected Handwashing and Killed Patients
In 1847, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis made a horrifying discovery at Vienna General Hospital: doctors were killing their patients. The maternity ward had a death rate of 10-35% from “childbed fever.” But here’s what was strange—the ward staffed by midwives had a death rate of only 4%. Mothers were literally begging not to be admitted to the doctors’ ward. Some women chose to give birth in the street rather than risk dying in the hospital. ...