[P-NP]

Quote from the article: "Dr. Taylor’s standard procedure included administering laxatives and bloodletting from the patient. In addition, Taylor used the blood from slaughtered pigeons as eye drops, and often applied a baked apple to the eye with a bandage. Adding to the abuse, he charged large sums for his procedures—especially if he judged that the patient was wealthy. Bach survived a few weeks after the second procedure, but it seems likely that these failed eye operations directly caused his rapid decline and death. Taylor’s approach was extremely unhygienic, and thus likely to lead to post-surgical infections. I remind readers that antibiotics didn’t exist back then, and an infection, once it had set in, was often fatal. In any event, Bach died on July 28, 1750 at age 65."

[rob74]

You have to remember that's pretty much par for the course for that age. One classic example is the "care" that was administered to George Washington, which likely also hastened his demise:

"Doctors then arrived and bled him four more times over the next eight hours, with a total blood loss of 40 percent. Washington also gargled with a mixture of molasses, vinegar and butter; he inhaled a steam of vinegar and hot water; and his throat also was swabbed with a salve and a preparation of dried beetles. An enema was also used."

(from https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-mysterious-death-of-...)

[giraffe_lady]

I don't think the argument that "we have a lot of records of this behavior so it was normal" is persuasive, for the reason that our records aren't an even slice of history. We have much much more record of what rich people did and were affected by, and much less about everyone else.

It may have been, probably was, normal for wealthy people to subject themselves to this sort of treatment. But I think the majority of people would have seen a local barber, midwife, or healer, who had different traditions that may not have been more effective but seemed to have generally favored less invasive interventions. The majority of people probably just sat at home and hoped for the best, which likely had better outcomes than what the rich were paying doctors to do to them.