# Would you still be alive without modern medicine? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970 "2012-12-13T22:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/21 "2012-12-14T00:00:31Z")
Died from an earlier problem than childbirth, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/22 "2012-12-14T00:29:29Z")
> [@Atakapa](#): > > Excellent point. > > To clarify, “died during childbirth” refers to your own birth. If you are a woman who experienced a particularly nasty and complicated delivery that would have likely resulted in death without modern medicine, then mark “died from later causes.” Well, I voted before reading the thread. I would have died of complications of pregnancy. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/23 "2012-12-14T00:38:59Z")
I would have died giving birth. My child would not have lived either. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/24 "2012-12-14T00:39:02Z")
At one point I was on penicillin, although I’m not sure why (Mammahomie doesn’t remember either, so it must not have been major). I’ve also had skin tags removed, had a cyst removed from my foot, had root canal, and had wisdom teeth out. All necessary, but not life-threatening. Oddly enough, when I was a wee tot I ingested some poison and had to have vomiting induced in the ER. So you could say I would be dead without modern medicine. However, the poison I ingested was a bottle of Grandpa’s epilepsy pills, so in a sense modern medicine was what made me sick in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/25 "2012-12-14T00:42:54Z")
yeah probably. I can’t think of any situations where I was in a life/death situation and needed urgent medical attention for it. However w/o vaccines against dozens of diseases or antibiotics for topical cuts which might otherwise become infected, who knows. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/26 "2012-12-14T00:52:46Z")
Hmmm…I _might_ have died a couple of times, from blood poisoning or pneumonia, but I don’t know for _sure_ that I _would_ have died. But I might just have ended up with a bum leg/stump and a wheeze. Which would go along well with the myopia, hay fever, two missing/shortened fingers, and completely untreated clinical depression and OCD. Oh, and I had ear infections as a kid, so I might be at least partially deaf, too. All yours, ladies! I’d probably just have drunk myself to death at the earliest chance, at best. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/27 "2012-12-14T01:01:21Z")
> [@Atakapa](#): > > . I have psoriasis, which apparently used to be confused with leprosy, and without treatment I’d likely be covered in ugly red sores. Add in nearsightedness, and I’m looking at life as a half blind leper. This would be me. 😛 Though, without treatment, I’m covered in ugly red, but no sores. They are no issue to me at all except ugly. In fact, when I was turned down for the Army because of it, I went to the library to find an argument against that. \ Because what I have, while widespread and annoying as all get-out, is no determent to anything but a beauty pageant. When I hit the books, though, I saw what OTHER people can have as psoriasis, and I could kind of understand why they didn’t want that. Of course my next argument was going to be 'Well if THAT’S psoriasis, then I don’t have THAT!" but I gave up. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/28 "2012-12-14T01:08:44Z")
I had an open spinal column and hydrocephelaus at birth, so no. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/29 "2012-12-14T01:17:48Z")
nope, cancer ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/30 "2012-12-14T01:27:32Z")
I’ve never been treated for anything life-threatening. I’ve gotten stitched pretty often, but I believe they would have all healed without it, provided I managed to avoid infection. However, without modern medicine, I would not be able to see worth a damn. I would have trouble fending for myself, and might well have gotten killed just by not being able to see something dangerous. It wouldn’t be a guaranteed death sentence, though, or even certain misery if I lucked into a position where I didn’t have to see more than a few feet, so I took the “minor issues” option. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/31 "2012-12-14T01:43:56Z")
If the food poisoning hadn’t killed me when I was 13, the internal injuries sustained when I was 30 most likely would have. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/32 "2012-12-14T01:44:16Z")
I would have made it until my mid-40’s, whereupon the gastrointestinal infection I had would have killed me via dehydration. At that, I would have outlived my three sisters (mental illness, death in childbirth, and thyroid failure respectively) and my mother, and my niece and nephews wouldn’t exist as their mothers wouldn’t have lived long enough to have them. Maybe dad would be left. Anyhow, mid-40’s was a respectful lifespan back in 1200 AD. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/33 "2012-12-14T01:55:32Z")
Probably dead by now but it’s hard to know really. I’ve always enjoyed good health, with the exception of obesity. That and related health issues would have killed me, but back then I would have been too poor to be obese. Yay modern meds and bariatric surgery! ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/34 "2012-12-14T01:59:10Z")
I put alive but miserable. Without a cornea transplant, I’d have been legally blind starting at about age 21 - even in an era where prescription glasses were an option. While legally blind is more generous than most people realize, I think the mere fact that I draw distinctions between levels of legal blindness should tell you just how bad my sight would have been. It’s possible that I might have died from two separate issues, though: I had bad asthma as a child. It never sent me to the ER, but I’m not sure I’d have lived without modern medication. Probably not. I also accidentally poured boiling water on my foot once. (Being virtually blind, it was hard to judge where the sink was.) As I was on the way to the ER in an endorphin haze, it occurred to me that such an injury could very well have become infected not too far back in our history and that could have cost me the foot or my life. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/35 "2012-12-14T02:03:39Z")
No. Childhood diseases, including scarlet fever Ruptured appendix Suicide from untreated depression Diabetes and high blood pressure Serious infection on lower leg Aortic valve replacement and quadruple bypass Damn, it’s a miracle I’m still alive, even WITH modern medicine. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/36 "2012-12-14T02:09:18Z")
When I was about 30 I had a deep wound - down to the bone - in my knee that got infected, with redness and swelling starting to creep both up my hip and down my calf. Antibiotics cleared it right up but I assume I’d have eventually died of septicemia or gangrene otherwise. Also I suppose I could have died giving birth to my son. He was hoovered out with a suction thingy, but apparently my pushing wasn’t doing a damn thing. In the old days the doctor would probably have just reached in and pulled the baby out, but then I would likely have died of childbed fever. I’m also profoundly myopic, so without corrective lenses I’d have stumbled around blindly my whole life and been considered useless - though I would have made a great seamstress, splinter remover, and doer of any other task that requires extreme close-up vision, so perhaps I’d have managed to survive somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/37 "2012-12-14T02:12:09Z")
My appendix probably would have ruptured at 13. By now, heart problems would surely have done me in. I had a heart attack from which I recovered (without much in the way of treatment in those bygone days), but since then I have atrial fib and now I have a pacemaker. Plus taking statins, anti-hypertension pills and metformin. Something would have done me in, or a combination. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/38 "2012-12-14T02:19:38Z")
Depending on how the arm I broke at 11 healed, I’d either be alive, alive but not fully functional, or dead from infection. My wife would have died while attempting to give birth to our first son, and he wouldn’t survived the ordeal either. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/39 "2012-12-14T02:31:03Z")
Had a knot in my cord during birth, even at the time (small regional Australian hospital in the 70s) the drs didn’t know that that was the problem, they only knew I was in distress. Pumped Mum full of oxygen, probably just enough to keep me going without brain damage or death. Might have died with my second child (unlikely but who knows) - needed to be induced as she was 2 weeks overdue. Left to my own devices she might not have survived and I could have dies I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970/40 "2012-12-14T02:43:18Z")
There were two issues before I was born. One was placenta previa, which is a fancy name for the placenta attaching too close to the cervix. My mom started bleeding during the second trimester. Bad bad bad. The only real treatment option is bed rest. It’s possible that midwives way back then would have recommended bed rest in that scenario, but it’s also quite possible that they wouldn’t have known or that my parents wouldn’t have been able to afford Mom being out of action for a couple of months. I also got stuck during delivery and required a vacuum assist. It wasn’t a severe kind of stuck - all they had to do was rotate my head a few degrees - and the 16th century forceps would probably have gotten me out successfully if they’d been available. Earlier than that, my Mom might have been able to deliver me anyway. Or it might have killed us both. I selected dead during childbirth in the poll, as that seems the most likely outcome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-still-be-alive-without-modern-medicine/643970.md?page=3)