# Without Modern Medical Care, When Would You Have Died? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989 "2009-03-10T18:37:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/61 "2009-03-10T22:44:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But I’d be blind in one eye from an infection from a scratch caused by a contact lens if medical science had just been 10 years behind. Without modern medicine, you wouldn’t have had the contact lens to scratch yourself with, so I’m not sure if that one counts. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/62 "2009-03-10T23:04:33Z")
I would have died of a burst appendix in 2005. My daughter would have died at birth (and very nearly almost did anyway). ---
**Author:** ![dubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dubs)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/63 "2009-03-10T23:05:06Z")
Well, if the nephritis when I was 5 didn’t do me in, then maybe it would’ve been the unplanned C-section when my youngest was born 23 years ago. He was full breech. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/64 "2009-03-10T23:18:37Z")
Maybe. As mentioned in other threads I had a rupture in my stomach in 05 and that would have killed me. But I probably wouldn’t have had that if I hadn’t had the first surgery on my stomach in 03. Eventually I would have likely gotten cancer of the esophagus - it was already pre-cancerous, so I would have died from that, but who knows when? ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/65 "2009-03-10T23:21:46Z")
Would rubella kill you? If yes, then age 13 months, same week as my brother would have carked it from scarlet fever. If that wouldn’t do the job, then two months later, when I twatted my face in to a window, and both broke. Without modern medicine I would be either dead from blood loss or sporting some much more prominent scars. ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/66 "2009-03-10T23:24:03Z")
I probably would have died from a nasty kidney infection but since the time modern medical “care” almost killed me and my baby, I figure we’re even. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/67 "2009-03-10T23:38:32Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > A good chunk of people would have died from strep. If they survived strep, their lifespan would have been shortened by the rheumatic fever that follows, as it would have attacked parts such as the heart valves. I had an uncle I never met because he died early due to heart damage caused by strep. In his parents’ defense, at the time he had strep throat it was untreatable, antibiotics being as yet undiscovered. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/68 "2009-03-11T00:08:51Z")
I would have died at or soon after birth ( I was breech and then stuck in the hospital for about a week, although I don’t know exactly why). If I survived that, I would have been dead or blind and brain-damaged at 8 from a sinus infection to end all sinus infections that nearly turned into bacterial meningitis. As it was, I escaped with two black eyes and a couple of weeks out of school. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/69 "2009-03-11T00:53:39Z")
Possible at 23, from the abcessed wisdom tooth. I didn’t have trouble with the tooth, but I found out about the abcess when I saw the doctor because I was having trouble breathing and almost couldn’t open my mouth. A few more days of that infection and who knows? If not then, possibly at 49 or 50 if my iron levels continued to drop. I don’t know if the lesions in my stomach would have gotten bad enough to kill me, but there again, who knows? Of course, it’s possible that modern culture and law saved my life more than modern medicine. I might not have gotten to either of those situations if my first marriage had continued along its course. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/70 "2009-03-11T01:00:07Z")
At birth. I was a preemie. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/71 "2009-03-11T01:00:38Z")
Technically, yes—if not from the illness itself, but from the fact that I’d probably have drank myself to death or jumped out a tall window long ago if I’d had no treatment available. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/72 "2009-03-11T01:05:17Z")
> [@Audrey\_Levins](#): > > Could strep kill you? > > I was always getting it as a kid; the doctor said one more episode and my tonsils were coming out. > > My tonsils heard him, I guess, because I haven’t had strep in the intervening 22 years. > > What about a pilonidal cyst? After surgery and cauterization, I was on 2000 mgs of antibiotics a day to prevent infection of a huge open wound… > > What would have happened a hundred years ago? I was a strep kid - had strep throat twice a year all the time. Haven’t had it in YEARS. However, it just moved in and I adapted - I’m a strep carrier. I apparently don’t shed it though, since people around me are healthy and haven’t had it myself in years. Other than strep, I’ve been pretty darn healthy though, and if that didn’t kill me or something I was vaccinated for, I’d probably be still alive - but eating mush - I have horrible teeth and fillings up the wazoo. ---
**Author:** ![Taipan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Taipan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taipan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/73 "2009-03-11T01:29:00Z")
Bronchitis as a baby, I don’t know if people survive that though. Beyond that, I sliced my foot wide open when I was about 17 and the wound had a whole lot of grass and dirt in it. I think I certainly would have lost at least my foot. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/74 "2009-03-11T02:03:56Z")
I’ve had 3 _in situ_ melanomas removed, so I suspect that my answer would be YES. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/75 "2009-03-11T02:32:26Z")
I’m another “at-birther” here…I was breech, Mom had an emergency C-Section. Probably would have taken her with me in the olden days. If not then, possibly Chicken Pox at 7, or strep at 12. Other than that, I’ve been very healthy…never even had a broken bone, and had an easy pregnancy and delivery. I’m lucky. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/76 "2009-03-11T02:55:29Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I’ve had 3 _in situ_ melanomas removed, so I suspect that my answer would be YES. Oops, misread the question. :smack: WHEN would I have died w/out modern medical care? To my knowledge, I didn’t have any life-threatening health issues until the melanomas showed up in my mid-40s. Except for that time I was almost electrocuted, but that’s another story… ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/77 "2009-03-11T03:21:26Z")
At 24—both my daughter and I would have died in childbirth. My b/p was sky high and she was delivered by vacuum extraction and spent her first 4 days in the NICU. I had Labetalol or some such wonder drug in my IV and take oral meds now. She’ll be a glorious 23 in June. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/78 "2009-03-11T03:34:13Z")
I would have been dead three days after being born. I was born with an intestinal obstruction necessitating an immediate operation. My mom tells me another child was born in the same hospital at that time with a similar problem and did not survive. Thirty-eight years later I still have a huge scar across my abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/79 "2009-03-11T04:04:19Z")
I think I’d still be alive now, though my teeth would be in agony. The worst illness I’ve had, apart from general colds and mild fevers, is mumps at 5, and I did get measles when I was 16. I imagine they’re survivable even without antibiotics, so I’d probably remain alive today. Though if I lived in a period with less pleasant food choices, I’d be dead at 1. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989/80 "2009-03-11T04:12:34Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Hard to say. I was vaccinated. This is really the only correct answer unless your “would have died” age is as a baby, before vaccinations. Without vaccination and sanitation, you have a much better chance to die but it’s impossible to say when. Had I not been vaccinated against rubella maybe that would have killed me. Had smallpox not been exterminated, maybe that would have killed me. We’ll never know for sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-modern-medical-care-when-would-you-have-died/488989.md?page=5)