- Plastic surgery was helped by war.
The treatment of plastic surgery became vital because of the horrific burns caused to soldiers during World War I and World War II. New weapons increased the number of injuries seen by doctors. In the First World War, Dr Harold Gillies developed treatments assisted by Dr Archibald McIndoe. In World War II McIndoe continued the work in a special clinic in Sussex. They were able to use drugs such as the sulphonamides and later penicillin to overcome the problems of infection.
- Wars are very expensive.
The material required to fight war costs governments vast sums of money. This money had to be taken away from other areas such as hospitals and medical research. The quality of care available to civilians deteriorates, and doctors and nurses have to leave the hospitals to look after the thousands of casualties amongst the soldiers. Examples of this include the First and Second World Wars in Europe. The problem can be summed up by the debate in the United States during the Vietnam War in which economists argued that it was not possible to have both ‘guns and butter’ at the same time. By this they meant that a nation could not spend money both on a war and on things that would make the lives of its citizens better.
- Medical care for soldiers is often worse than before a war.
During World War I the medical care given to injured soldiers was often less effective than that practised in hospitals before the War started. By 1914, many surgeons were using careful surgical techniques that involved removing only the infected part of a limb and then treating it with antiseptics to stop infection. The massive numbers of casualties with ripped apart flesh and limbs from battle meant that doctors were overwhelmed. The dirt of the battlefield hospitals led to rapid spread of infections. To cope with this, doctors amputated whole limbs. However, before the War they would have been able to save most of the leg or arm. This was the only way they could stop the spread of the infections as the soldiers moved away from the battlefield.
- Surgery was developed in the Middle Ages because of War.
War in the Middle Ages involved the use of bows and arrows. These were developed to fire stronger and heavier arrows with more power and over longer distances. The injuries caused by the arrowheads presented army surgeons with even greater difficulties in dealing with the wounds. Their skills were developed and these were transferred back into civilian life.
- The collapse of the Roman Empire was a disaster for medicine.
The Roman Empire collapsed under the twin problems of internal weaknesses and attacks from outside. In 410AD the Barbarians from northern Germany captured Rome and destroyed the city. Much of the collected work of Hippocrates and Galen was lost in the unrest and destruction that followed across Europe. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the great public health systems in towns across Europe fell into disrepair. The life expectancy of the average person fell for the next 1000 years. With the loss of the Roman Government of Western Europe following its defeat in war, medicine ceased progress for centuries.
