tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post5153063223324112848..comments2024-03-28T02:46:03.227-04:00Comments on The Historical Society: The Importance of Studying Ordinary Lives: An Interview with Laurel Thatcher UlrichRandallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-82233191588582634952009-04-01T15:28:00.000-04:002009-04-01T15:28:00.000-04:00I don't recall that A Midwife's Tale was primarily...I don't recall that A Midwife's Tale was primarily about the claim that physicians were inferior to midwives. <BR/><BR/>Granted, I really don't know all that much about this period. But considering the wreck of medicine in that era, how could a midwife be worse than the typical physician? How was it that "heroic medicine"--bleeding, blistering, purging--was better than what most midwives did? Weren't the deaths of George Washington, W H Harrison, and Zachary Taylor hastened by the best in medical knowledge? <BR/><BR/>I like this motto from a 19th century doctor who David S. Reynolds quotes in Waking Giant: "bleed freely--vomit freely--and blister early."<BR/><BR/>Maybe obstetrics was isolated from heroic medicine, but it seems like a total system.Randallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-89513444766392483592009-03-30T22:06:00.000-04:002009-03-30T22:06:00.000-04:00I read the Ballard book, and I was unimpressed by ...I read the Ballard book, and I was unimpressed by the claim that physicians were always making a muck of deliveries. I'm sure some did, but I'm not prepared to take one experienced midwife's complaint as evidence for a national problem.<BR/><BR/>You don't have to look far in undeveloped regions of the world, for example, for strong and consistent -- and allegedly empirical -- evidence that modern medicine has an inferior record to local shamans. Martha Ballard was a good midwife, and maybe a better obstetrician than many a physician. But I think Ulrich could apply more source criticism to the source that made her career.<BR/><BR/>What about selection bias -- is it possible that physicians were often involved in only the more difficult cases? Is there a quantitative social history on econo-demographically similar areas, some with substantially more physician deliveries per pregnancy than others? Those are the sorts of the methodological tests needed for Ulrich's sorts of hypotheses.<BR/><BR/>If these questions have been asked and answered, I'll be glad to learn about it.Jeffrey Vankenoreply@blogger.com