why were medieval cesarean sections fatal? Excluding obvious infection risks, why was the procedure it’s self deadly?

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Came home from a placental abruption resulting in a horrifying emergency c section and 2 week hospital stay and made a bad choice to watch House of the Dragon where cesareans are a death sentence. I did a bit of research and found out medieval c sections did happen but were only performed if the mother was dying anyway as it was always fatal. I understand that infection would’ve killed any surviving women back then but apparently they died during the operation anyway. So I’m confused about what killed women during the procedure it’s self? As far as I’m aware I did not receive a blood transfusion so it can’t have been blood loss which would’ve been my guess pre my own experience. Did they not have the medical tools necessary to put those women back together afterwards eg stitches? Or did they not know how to make insicions in a non fatal way?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Toxic shock is a big killer in operations without an anaethetic. Sepsis is the next problem. You might have heard of the term Dutch Courage. Fun fact then. In times gone by, soldiers and sailors were given a pint of neat Sloe Gin, or Rum, thats 80% proof rotgut stuff, before going into battle. Naval and land battles resulted in horrendous injuries, and the effect of the alchohol was to account for shock for injuries. Surgeons of those days were Barbers and Butchers, and hacked off limbs and fingers without asking. Speed was essential, an amputation of the leg took twenty seconds with a skilled surgeon. DEath cmae late when shock and finally gangrene set in. MOst of the deaths in the Civil wars were wounded soldiers left on the battlefield for days without water and food. Then the corpses were picked clean by the peasants. In the Crimean war, Generakl Buller had both legs blown off by a Cannon Ball. He instructed his surgeon to cauterise the legs by standing him in a barrel of boiling Pitch, then mounting his torso on an upturned barrel, where he directed his troops for two hours, winning the battle. He survived to old age, history tells us.

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