He taught doctors to wash hands: Who is Dr Ignaz Semmelweis?

Disappointed in his law education, Hungarian Ignaz Semmelweis switched to medicine, graduating from the University of Vienna in 1844. Despite graduating from this prestigious institution, he did not receive an acceptance from the pathology department and turned to obstetrics, a relatively new field for doctors until then dominated by midwives. This breaking moment in his life became a touchstone that would positively affect all humanity.

Discovering the Importance of Handwashing in Hospitals

While the number of women who die after and during childbirth is increasing inexorably, Dr. Semmelweis was quite confident that this did not happen by accident. The fact that the death rate of 1% suddenly jumped to 7.5% after the policy change of "Medical students and obstetricians must perform autopsies in addition to their other duties", which was mandated in 1823, reinforced the rightness of the young doctor (it is stated that it reached up to 30% in the ongoing process. ).

Afterward, a team consisting entirely of midwives at the Vienna Hospital; was decided to form a second team consisting entirely of doctors and students. Interestingly, mortality rates continued to be much higher in the second team of medically trained doctors, while rates fell sharply in the first team of midwives. When physicians and midwives changed places, the proportions in the new team, which also included physicians, began to increase rapidly.

Semmelweis examined all the similarities and differences of the two teams: Same hospital, same equipment, same geographical and physical conditions… The only significant difference was that doctors and medical students gave birth in the first section, and midwives in the second section.

The secret was solved after the death of his friend and colleague, pathologist Jakob Kolletschka. Kolletschka received a scalpel wound while performing an autopsy on a patient who died of puerperal fever. He subsequently died with similar symptoms. Semmelweis had found the clue he was looking for! He quickly realized that the doctors and students left the operating rooms without washing after the autopsy and went straight to the birth without disinfecting their hands. He observed that hand washing was a burden for students and doctors in these years when the use of surgical gloves was not common.

Semmelweis, who made hand washing mandatory in the second team, ensured that the deaths were reset within months.

While the sterilization process, which he wanted to implement during his lifetime, should have spread throughout the medical community, the prejudices and the reflex of his fixed-minded colleagues became the beginning of the end for Semmelweis from that moment on. People left his team one by one, the study he published (1861 – Causes, Understanding, and Prevention of Postpartum Fever) received great critical and he had to leave the clinic where he worked. And the dramatic thing is that with the departure of the Hungarian doctor, the death rate immediately returned to its original state.

Semmelweis' new theory contradicted a prevailing theory from Ancient Greece. The medical community did not accept this liberal change and preferred the convenience of ignoring it. The weight of authority stood against his teachings.

Ignaz Semmelweis, who gradually lost his mental health, was admitted to a mental hospital by his colleagues, despite his refusal. While trying to leave, he was beaten by the guards and injured in his hand. His wound became infected in a short time and this time he was defeated by his fierce enemy, whom he had fought for years. Gangrene, which started in the fingers, spread to the whole body, and he passed away alone at the age of 47, exactly 14 days after he was admitted to a mental hospital (1865). His autopsy revealed that he died of the disease he had battled throughout his career.

The reputation of Semmelweis, whose right was proved by other scientists shortly after his death, was restored while he was not on this earth! Semmelweis's practice was confirmed by the germ theory by Louis Pasteur, and his applications were spread all over the world within a few years.

This scientist, who gave his name to the reflex of not accepting prejudices and innovative information in the 1850s, started to be mentioned again with Covid-19. In countries where it was not accepted, medical schools and hospitals were named after him, his statue was erected in his country, a year was dedicated to him by Unesco, and he continued to cause resentment of the unkind groups that caused him to leave us early.