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Essay On 20th Century American Medicine

1288 Words6 Pages

Research Paper

Medicine in 20th Century America

Zahra Amir

HIST-1302.PE2: United States History II

Professor John W Hart

2nd Period

April 3rd, 2023

Modern medicine is very different from what it was 100 years ago, in the 1900s. Modern hospitals, extensive medical research, physician education and certification are all things of the present rather than the past (“The 1900s Medicine and Health: Overview | Encyclopedia.com,” unidentified). For medicine, the 1900s were important years in American history. The field of medicine was transformed, and numerous lives were saved by the discovery of novel diseases' treatments and new technologies like X-rays and vaccines. Home remedies, common myths, and apothecary …show more content…

One of the most significant challenges of the era was the persistence of social inequalities and discrimination between the races in healthcare. For example, many hospitals and medical schools were still segregated, and women and people of color were often excluded from medical education and professional opportunities. This lack of diversity and representation in medicine had a significantly negative impact on the outcomes of healthcare due to the either inadequate or inappropriate care received by ethnic and marginalized communities. Although it had since improved from the 1840s when the father of gynecology, J. Marion Sims, conducted countless surgeries on enslaved black women with no anesthesia, there was still apparent discrimination. Also in the 1800s, the Body Mass Index scale was created by Adolphe Quetelet; now with increased knowledge however, we know that this is highly inaccurate. Not only does it ignore the differences between fat, muscle, and bone mass, it also only caters to the body of a white middle-aged man- completely ignoring all other ethnicities and …show more content…

The discovery of antibiotics, vaccines, and anesthesia transformed the practice of medicine, leading to improved outcomes for patients. However, these innovations were not without their drawbacks, as evidenced by the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the anti-vaccine movement. Additionally, the development of medical specialties and the expansion of medical education and research led to a more complex and sophisticated healthcare system. Despite these changes, access to healthcare remained unequal, with marginalized populations facing numerous barriers to receiving quality

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