Heroic medicine

Heroic medicine, also referred to as heroic depletion theory, was a therapeutic method advocating for rigorous treatment of bloodletting, purging, and sweating to shock the body back to health after an illness caused by a humoral imbalance. Rising to the front of orthodox medical practice in the "Age of Heroic Medicine" (1780–1850), it fell out of favor in the mid-19th century as more gentle, palliative treatments became the norm.

The first settlers in North America arrived in generally poor health after an arduous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in crowded, dirty vessels; they had often been drinking contaminated water, had little fresh food, and were malnourished and susceptible to infection. There were no hospitals in the new colonies and few doctors, and any health workers that were available had little or no training. Sanitation was non-existent and hygienic practices were poor, epidemics being common, especially in overcrowded towns. There was still a widespread belief that illnesses were a punishment from God and doctors considered that diseases stemmed from an imbalance in the four bodily humors – black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. They believed it possible to cure almost any ailment by adjustment of these bodily humors, by means of bloodletting, blistering, or purging.

Pockets of medical methodology that can be classified as "heroic" appear in the early 17th century with Parisian physician Guy Patin and French anatomist Jean Riolan the Younger. Patin, nicknamed "Le Grand Saigneur" (the Grand Bloodletter), was infamous for his rigorous procedure plans, which included incredibly intensive courses of bloodletting and application of senna. Because heroic medicine used popular techniques, it is difficult to absolutely classify a healer's therapeutic epistemology as heroic. Intensive bloodletting treatments can be identified throughout American history, with William Douglass in Massachusetts advocating for a heroic treatment plan in the early 18th century. While there were practitioners here and there who were particularly eager to perform aggressive treatment, heroic medicine did not become a concentrated school of thought until later in the 18th century.

...
Wikipedia