Without modern medicine, you wouldn’t have had the contact lens to scratch yourself with, so I’m not sure if that one counts.
I would have died of a burst appendix in 2005. My daughter would have died at birth (and very nearly almost did anyway).
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At birth. I was a preemie.
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.
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.
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.
I’ve had 3 in situ melanomas removed, so I suspect that my answer would be YES.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.