Questions

Bloodletting historically in the United States was used as a cure-all treatment for almost any illness, and was believed to stem from particularly an excess of blood.

George Washington was given this treatment for a sore throat and contributed to his death by throwing his body into hemorrhagic shock.

Mercury & Arsenic injections were the mainstay of medical treatment of syphilis in the United States until around 1943-1947.

These harsh treatments, often administered via painful injections or highly toxic regimens, aimed to kill the bacteria but frequently caused severe, sometimes fatal, poisoning in patients.

Patients suffered from excessive salvation, severe tremors, kidney damage, rotting jaws, tooth loss, through mercury poisoning, and because syphilis naturally goes into long latent periods, doctors mistakenly believed these horrific side effects meant the "poison" of the disease was successfully leaving the body.

Tobacco Smoke Enemas and liquid enemas were practiced in the United States by American medical practitioners for colic, bowel obstructions, and resuscitation, and this bizarre practice is the literal origin of the modern idiom "blowing smoke up your ass".

This treatment was finally abandoned because doctors realised it lacked medical efficacy and carried a high risk of fatal nicotine poisoning, as excess nicotine actually halts blood circulation.