# Were pre-modern doctors any good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2022, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pre-modern-doctors-any-good/975580 "2022-11-26T09:43:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 14
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pre-modern-doctors-any-good/975580/14 "2022-11-26T17:14:47Z")
I thought I remembered reading similar threads in the past. Here are some that a search turned up: > [@The role of doctors before modern drugs?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-doctors-before-modern-drugs/266441): > > What was the role of doctors in the last few thousand years up until the modern age of medicine (maybe around 1900ish with Pasteur’s discoveries of infectious agents)? I know that surgery has been around for a while, but did doctors actually do anything of use to fight infections or were amputation and bloodletting the only choices? Were there any diseases curable before the discovery of antibiotics in the late 20s (other than vaccinations or bacteriophage experiments), and any treatment for c… > [@When in history would a physician or barber-surgeon be better than me?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-in-history-would-a-physician-or-barber-surgeon-be-better-than-me/670896): > > By which I mean, if someone was ill or injured in the 11th century I reckon I, a lay person in medicine although trained in first-aid and with modern understanding and education in germ theory, diet and hygiene might be a better bet than the local quack who believed in bleeding to keep the bodily humours in balance, ‘bad air’ miasma and divine wrath theories of diseases. Today however a sick person would be much better advised to go to a qualified physician than me. So, what I’m thinking is th… > [@What conditions would a pre-modern doctor be able to treat effectively?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conditions-would-a-pre-modern-doctor-be-able-to-treat-effectively/789774): > > Pre-modern doctors (for the sake of argument say prior to 18th century, but could go much later than that if you felt like it) on the whole get have a fairly bad reputation. What with the lack of antibiotics, anesthetic and most importantly any understanding of germ theory and the importance of sterile conditions. But doctors have been a somewhat successful profession for an awfully long time without any of those things. And there are plenty of historical description of apparently successful tr… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-pre-modern-doctors-any-good/975580)._