United States healthcare spending in 2009 averaged more than $8000 per person, for a total of $2.5 trillion (17.6% of gross domestic product.) By … [Read more...]
Origin of the Word “Anesthesia”
The term "anesthesia" was coined in 1846 by physician and noted poet Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr. in a letter to William G. Morton, the dentist who is … [Read more...]
Dr. Harvey Cushing – Pulitizer Prize Winner
The only surgeon to win a Pulitizer Prize was Harvey Cushing, who was awarded the prize in 1925 for his biography of fellow Johns Hopkins titan Dr. … [Read more...]
Ephraim McDowell, Pioneering Surgeon
Kentucky physician Ephraim McDowell (1771-1830) has the distinction in American surgery of being the first surgeon to perform an intraabdominal … [Read more...]
Kit Carson, Master Hunting-Knife Surgeon
Christopher "Kit" Carson is an American hunter, trapper, and frontiersman whose exploits leading John Fremont on his expeditions to the West are now … [Read more...]
American Cancer Society Releases List of 19 Chemicals To Be Avoided
The American Cancer Society has named a list of 19 chemicals and shift work as things that may very likely signficantly increase the risk of cancer. … [Read more...]
Pre-eminent Surgeon Dr. William S. Halsted’s Death… From A Post-Operative Surgical Complication
Pioneering late eighteenth and early nineteenth century surgeon Dr. William S. Halsted was operated on August 25, 1922 at the age of 70 for a "biliary … [Read more...]
Snake Oil – Effective Treatment Or Is It Just… Snake Oil?
Snake oil is a traditional Chinese medicine obtained from the Chinese water snake Enhydris chinensis. Although it is still sold in traditional Chinese … [Read more...]
Tattoos on Bronze Age Mummy Discovered In 1991 – Acupuncture Points?
Scientists were thrilled in 1991 when hikers in Austria discovered the nearly completely preserved body of a Bronze Age man man frozen in a glacier. … [Read more...]
Gin As Medicinal
Gin as medicinal treatment has been used for several hundred years. The modern day spirit known as gin was developed by Dutch physician Fransciscus … [Read more...]