The first doctor on the scene administered brandy and ammonia, then inserted a metal probe into the wound in order to find the bullet. The probe became stuck in the shattered fragments of Garfield’s 11th rib and was removed — painfully. The doctor then inserted his finger, failed to find the bullet but succeeded in widening the gunshot wound further.
Garfield was moved to the White House for further treatment, but his doctors utterly and completely failed him. Sixteen doctors rushed to his aid and went to work. Most probed the wound with dirty instruments and fingers. They did not believe in germs.
When Garfield’s temperature began to rise, doctors reopened the wound in hopes of finding the bullet. By the time Garfield died, 80 days later, they had turned a three-inch-deep, superficial wound into a 21-inch infected gash that stretched from his ribs to his groin.
He dropped from 210 to 130 pounds. When he finally passed on Sept. 19, he grabbed his chest and uttered his final words.
“This pain, this pain,” he said. The president died a few moments later.
That was in 1881.
In 1876, a scientist named Robert Koch established that microorganisms can cause disease. He discovered that the blood of cattle who were infected with anthrax always had a substantial amount of Bacillus Anthracis — more he found that the blood from an infected cow could be used to infect a healthy one.
Koch also found he could grow bacteria in nutrient-rich broth, inject it into an animal and cause illness. Based on his studies, Koch devised criteria that established a causal link between microorganisms and disease, which became known as Koch’s Postulates.
The idea germs cause disease is called “the germ theory of disease,” and it was proposed in 1546 by Girolamo Fracastoro.
Garfield’s doctors had no excuse to ignore cleanliness. Of course, it’s easy to speak about their faults through the lens of retrospect. But what were they thinking? Why were they so careless with the president?
Early medical professionals did not believe what they could not see. There weren’t electron microscopes in those days and the idea that invisible organisms were everywhere was not only horrifying, it seemed impossible.
Additionally, some doctors may have not cared for methods which shook up the tried-and-true procedures they had spent years practicing. To think all this time the lives they were trying to save may have actually been made worse or even destroyed because of them?
In those days, quickness was king. Bladder surgery was done by slicing open an awake patient, sticking one’s unwashed hand into the wound, removing the bladder stones, and then stitching them up in a hurry.
Germ theory was “just a theory,” much like one might say evolution, the origin of the universe or any other theory that doesn’t jibe with their personal beliefs is “just a theory.”
For Garfield, disregarding a theory meant an untimely death.
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