# 200 years ago, I'd be dead. How 'bout you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250 "2002-07-22T18:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/21 "2002-07-22T20:01:20Z")
Pyloric Stenosis a few weeks after birth. Less than one hundred years ago an infant with the condition would die of extreme dehydration and cardiovascular failure, spending much of his (predominantly a male disorder) short life projectile vomiting. Now it’s fixed with a relatively simple surgery and the mortality rate is extremely low. ---
**Author:** ![Nortia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Nortia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nortia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/22 "2002-07-22T20:26:21Z")
No serious illnesses or broken bones so far. The only thing which might have killed me was giving birth to my twins, but as I had them naturally and with only gas and air I’m going to be optimistic and say I’d still be alive. ---
**Author:** ![breaknrun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@breaknrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaknrun)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/23 "2002-07-22T20:39:37Z")
Dead baby crawling. Born 3 months premature. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/24 "2002-07-22T20:45:12Z")
Dead, dead, dead. Major bladder infection, gotten rid of only by Cipro–would have turned into a kidney infection and carried me off. If that hadn’t done it, BabyG was very large and sunny-side-up; I would have been one of those that labored for a week and then died of exhaustion. She never even came close to descending. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/25 "2002-07-22T20:57:54Z")
Pneumonia or some other severe respiratory problem around age two. Stopped breathing and was rushed to the emergency room. Yep, modern medicine’s great. ---
**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/26 "2002-07-22T21:49:24Z")
My youngest daughter had a urinary tract infection when she was several weeks old. Several days in the hospital, lots of antibiotics, and she recovered nicely. Pre-antibiotics, she’d have been another infant death. (OK, so that wasn’t me directly. But I’m not all that sure I’d have survived losing her anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/27 "2002-07-22T22:05:12Z")
The blood leaking from the cavernous malformation in my brain would likely have done me in if not for brain surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/28 "2002-07-22T22:36:57Z")
Well, I suffered a life-threatening infection after my vasectomy operation, but of course that procedure wouldn’t have been available back then, so maybe I’d be OK. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/29 "2002-07-22T23:18:20Z")
She’s dead, Jim. Take her stuff. My appendix exploded when I was 13, in addition to being painfully nearsighted, and various childhood infections including strep and chicken pox. I play in the SCA, but I’m real happy to come home and take a hot soapy shower on Sunday. Let’s not forget modern cleanliness probably saved as many lives as modern medicine up through 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/30 "2002-07-22T23:26:33Z")
Gestational diabetes, and then an emergency C-section caused by the cord wrapped 3x around the baby’s neck. 200 years ago? Both of us dead as donuts. Also, speaking for Whatsit Jr. here, when he was a month old he contracted RSV, which led to bacterial pneumonia, and that DEFINITELY would have killed him 200 years ago. Maybe even 50 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/31 "2002-07-22T23:56:10Z")
Persistent and chronic pneumothorax. 200 years ago – hell, _fifty_ years ago – I’m a corpse several times over. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/32 "2002-07-23T00:10:23Z")
At the age of 32, I have never had: pneumonia measles mumps chicken pox tonsillitis any serious congenital illness I suppose that 200 years ago, infantile paralysis (polio) would have been a danger without the Salk vaccine, but we can’t take that as a given. So I’d probably have been OK, but I would be a cripple: I broke my leg four years ago and had to have orthopedic surgery. It’s possible that it could have been partially repaired with a splint or plaster cast, but I’d never have fully regained use of my leg without modern medicine. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/33 "2002-07-23T00:15:43Z")
My mother’s side came to the Pacific Northwest in the early 1800’s. My father’s side came over on the Mayflower. 3 of my 4 grandparents lived into their mid 80’s. I have never had any kind of disease or serious illness. At 45 I still have my tonsils and appendix. I would be just as alive in 1802 as 2002. Guess you good say I come from good pioneer stock. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/34 "2002-07-23T00:59:40Z")
I’d never have been born - my mom is a Type I diabetic, and if not for insulin treatment, she’d have died before she turned 20 years old, twelve years before I was born. On my own merit, I’d probably still be here, albeit totally useless. I’m severely nearsighted, and I doubt any olden time spectacles could have helped me to the point where I’d be able to actually do anything. Of course, 200 years ago, I probably wouldn’t read as much as I do now, and my vision might be better. (Not by much, though, as it seems I am genetically predisposed to near-blindness.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/35 "2002-07-23T01:21:22Z")
I’d have been stillborn, most likely. Hell, I nearly was even in the high tech times of 1977. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/36 "2002-07-23T02:05:36Z")
Another dead one here. I probably would have died of “child bed fever” after the birth of my first child. And if that hadn’t done me in, the second one definitely would have. Emergency C-Section, 6 weeks early, placenta previa, massive blood loss and infection. Thank God for antibiotics! ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/37 "2002-07-23T02:30:08Z")
Embarrassingly, I would have been done in by a bee that stung me when I was 9. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/38 "2002-07-23T02:34:46Z")
Another cord-around-the-neck (2x) baby here. I’d have died and taken my mother with me. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/39 "2002-07-23T02:43:20Z")
I LIVE! ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250/40 "2002-07-23T02:56:07Z")
Not sure about illness, although I did have a serious bronchial infection when I was in the fifth grade that eventually landed me in the hospital for treatment. My only thought is that if this were 1802, I would not be able to speak, read, or write. I was born severely-to-profoundly deaf. ASL hasn’t been invented yet. Hearing aids that are practical for my type of hearing loss are more than a century and a half away. My life would have been totally, unimaginably different. It’s a thought that’s occurred to me before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-years-ago-id-be-dead-how-bout-you/120250.md?page=3)