20th Century Health Care

20th Century Health Care

Common Medical Practices

Overview of Common Medical Beliefs

Average Life Span

Major discoveries/advances/etc.

Biography of Benjamin Carson

Benjamin Carson became famous for his landmark surgeries to separate conjoined twins. In 1987, he was the primary surgeon of a 70 member surgical team to separate 7 month old siamese twins from West Germany. They were occipital craniopagus twins, meaning that they were conjoined at the head near the occipital bone. Dr. Carson still continues to perform life changing surgeries and to conduct research for new techniques and procedures. (Pgs. 14-15)

Major Diseases

• Yellow Fever- Fever that can cause liver damage and failure within one day of improvement [has cure]
• Typhoid- Harsh fever, causes rash as well as extreme internal pain [has cure]
• Influenza (Spanish Flue)- Strain of influenza killed between 20 and 40 million people [has cure]
• Polio- Causes paralysis, and has forms that don't cause paralysis [has cure]
• AIDS/HIV- STD that targets white blood cells and makes minor diseases deadly [NO cure]
• CDC.gov & pages 12-14

• Carl Landsteiner- Discovered that mosquitoes carried yellow fever (1900)
• Dr. Harry Plotz- Created a vaccine to fight typhoid (1903)
• Sigmund Freud- His studies formed the basis of Psychiatry and Psychology (1856-1939)
• Sir Alexander Fleming- He discovered penicillin and how it works (1928)
• Thomas Starzl- Performed the 1st liver transplant (1963)

• X-Rays- They could show what is inside the body without exploratory surgery
• Insulin- Helps those with diabetes
• Antibiotics- Fight infections to get people healthy again
• Vaccines- Prevent diseases
• Gene Therapy- Cure inherited diseases

• Understood the structure of DNA
• White blood cells help protect against disease
• Bad health was because of smoking, diet (especially animal fats), cholesterol levels, obesity, elevated blood pressure, and lack of exercise
• They startedfocusing on a large group with small risk factors rather than small groups with large risk factors.

Pgs. 11-12

ncbibookshelf.gov

Pgs. 11-14

Thank You!

Developments during this time period

averaged between 60 and 80 years