What Does The Doctor's Plague Mean

The Doctor’s Plague Reflection The book “The Doctor’s Plague” was a verminophobe’s worst nightmare. It was set in a time when germs weren’t discovered yet. No one understood what caused the sickness and the society resorted to primitive ways of explaining phenomenon. It was a time when bleeding and use of leeches were still being used in medicinal practices in mid-19th century Vienna. This book describes the story of how doctors used to spread childbed fever to many pregnant women in the hospital and no one had any idea how. “One of every six mothers delivered in the First division of Allegemeine Krakenhaus was dying of it.”(31) Among all this chaos, the author tells the story of the protagonist, Ignac Semmelweis. He was portrayed as a failed genius who solely deduced by observing his patients the cause of the infection and how to stop it. …show more content…
And he would always insist that doctors take precautionary measures and follows his Lehre about the hygienic conditions of the hospital. And this idea caused a lot of clash between medical professionals. Semmelweis was quite hostile towards the medical authorities and combined with his self-destructive tendencies, it resulted in his death in a mental institution. Nuland describes the conditions of those time quite meticulously and with appropriate scientific facts. Semmelweis was portrayed as the lone hero fighting against the medical establishment to save innocent lives. The author first emotionally connected with the readers and humanized the protagonist. Then the protagonist goes through his trials. In this case, Semmelweis attempt to prove his findings can be considered his trial. And lastly, the events that led to his personal tragedy and the conclusion to the story. Nuland describes how hard it really