What was medical care like in the 1820s compared to now?

Answer 1

Oh my, a comparison of 1820s medical care to today's care is a tall order! There are so many differences, it would take a book to explain. Here are some differences, listed in no particular order:

1820s medical care

• medicines were plant-based but were not tested
• physicians ground plants themselves to make medicines
• the same medicines were given to everyone, even if it didn't cure everyone
• there was less understanding about "germs"
• "cures" were often still based in folk-lore
• physicians visited almost always in a patient's home
• physicians traveled TO the patient, often 30-plus miles or more territory
• hospitals were rare; people were sick at home and died at home
• patients paid for care and medicines with giving milk, eggs, or even a cow; patients without money or goods to pay often had no care
• frontier communities often had no doctors; people took care of each other
• doctors treated the 'whole person'; there were no specialists except an eye doctor or medical doctor
• "tests" were limited and were often just what a doctor could See, Hear, or Smell
• blood testing was just beginning to be investigated and was not used
• physicians and surgeons learned more about infection and surgery because of the wounds suffered in the Revolutionary War 1776 and the Civil War 1863-65
• since doctors did not understand viruses, or how to stop viruses, there were no immunizations
• most people who got the flu then got pneumonia, and died
• thousands of children died every year, ages: infancy to 9 yrs old
• the average life expectancy was UNDER 50 years of age
• doctors were free to make their best decisions
• patients prayed and hoped for a day when doctors could cure disease, prevent death or disability, and offer hope when hope was lost

2011 medical care

• all of today's medicines had their "roots" in the discoveries made in the 1700s and 1800s from plants, bark, and roots
• today, medicines in the USA must be tested; overseas countries have less testing though
• manufacturers create patents to protect the formulas they use
• manufacturers or pharmacists, not physicians, make medicines
• medicines are more often given now for precise reasons
• there is greater understanding of germs, and viruses versus bacteria; the bacterium was not discovered until the 1940s
• "cures" are still often an "art" but are based more on facts and research than on folk-lore
• patients go to doctors, typically to a doctor's office
• hospitals are plentiful; patients are admitted to hospitals for serious reasons
• from the early 1900s to 1980s, people were expected to stay in a hospital and to die there is death was coming; this changed in the 1980s with the development of "home care" and hospice; now patients can choose to die at home, in a hospital, or in a nursing home
• patients pay with insurance; patients with no insurance often go without care, unless they go to a low-income clinic or visit an ER
• it is unethical for doctors to "barter" or "trade" for care
• there are still doctor shortages in many areas of the USA, but major cities have numerous doctors
• doctors developed "specialties" which then split up a patient's care; patients look for doctors who practice "holistic" (whole patient) medicine
• the primary "tests" still include and begin with Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling, but now, machines can look inside the body (X-Ray, CAT scan, MRI, blood tests)
• now, numerous types of "blood tests" can show various components of blood, or even test for hormone levels, illegal drugs, etc.
• the lessons learned about infection and surgery from long-ago wars continue to be used in medicine and surgical care; any current war continues to educate physicians
• immunizations in the mid 1950s helped eradicate many communicable diseases; however, many parents in the 1980s did not have their children immunized so now, some of those viruses are coming back (example: Whooping Cough)
• the flu vaccine prevents flu, and thus prevents many cases of pneumonia; however, flu and pneumonia can still kill, mostly the young and the elderly
• today, heath care focuses on pre-natal care and infant-child health; we can help very sick children in/by Intensive Care
• the average life expectancy is OVER 80 years; many live to 100 years
• physicians often cannot act on their best decisions; they must conform to insurance standards/rules, and to other governing bodies that get in the way of "doctoring"
• patients now wish for simplified medicine, but still look to their doctors to cure-all, prevent-all, and be gods who can restore health or life at all costs

There are many more ways that medical care has changed. But these are the basics and should give an overview comparison between 1820 care and care in 2011.