Medical Technology Advances

“First the surgeon would cut off the blood flow with a tourniquet. After that he would take a scalpel and slice through the outlying tissue and flesh. Then he would use a hacksaw-like tool called a capital saw to saw through the bone. It had replaceable blades. After the bone and flesh was all sliced off, the surgeon would take silk sutures in the North, and cotton sutures in the South, and sew the major arteries and veins together. The limb would be dropped on a pile that was higher up then the table and the pile got thrown out after the day. Time was of the essence, so the soldier would be carried off of the platform and another soldier would be placed on the platform. This would take about fifteen minutes.”(Amputations)It wasn’t much different to be killed in World War II then it was during the Civil War or World War I. However, if the World War II GI was wounded by a bullet, shrapnel or taken down to disease such as malaria, or anything else that did not kill him, his chances for survival were much greater then his ancestor in the Civil War. During the Civil War, 50 percent or more of the men admitted to hospitals died, during World War I, it was 8 percent, World War II, 4 percent. (Enc

When the Civil War began, the United States Army (North) medical staff consisted of only the surgeon general, thirty surgeons, and eighty-three assistant surgeons. In time for Antietam, the Army of the Potomac, under its medical director Jonathan Letterman, the Letterman Ambulance Plan was developed. The next huge advancement in medical treatment in war was the discovery of penicillin. After, the doctor would complete the surgery and the soldier would attempt to go on with his life. This place is well staffed and well equipped. Fortunately though penicillin gave those soldiers protection from those diseases. Without cleaning the surroundings and sterilizing his equipment the doctor would begin. When the doctor made his cut unknowingly he infected the soldier! with numerous bacteria for example, staphylococci, hemolytic streptococcus, gangrene, and other disease-producing bacteria. (Taylor, 71) Furthermore medical advances are the cause to lowering the casualty rates of war. Farther down the road, during the time of World War II the training and knowledge of a medic was astonishing. In some occasions they had little to no training. The medics became more knowledgeable and more skilled then ever before due to the high set goals that the military had for the medics. As there was no medical licensing board at this time, these diploma factories were tolerated. They could wear uniforms if they wished and were usually restricted to general hospitals away from the fighting front. These bacteria would cause diseases that would have horrible effects on the people they infect, from painful headache and fever, to paralysis and degeneration of internal organs, to agonizing death.

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