Bloodletting: A Cure or a Curse?

Bloodletting is a form of wet cupping and was a very common medical procedure in the Classical times. Because illness was thought to be caused by an imbalance of bodily fluids or humors, ancient physicians like Hippocrates figured draining the bad blood from a sick person would bring back good health. Although bloodletting was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, it originated in ancient Egypt like other forms of cupping as I mentioned in my last post.

In the procedure, a surgeon would first tie the patient’s arm to make the veins swell, then make an incision and drain out blood. The famous Greek physician Erasistratus taught that all illnesses were caused by an excess of blood, or plethora, so bloodletting was meant to return the body to its normal state. Even Galen who developed the concept of plethora or excessive humors recommended bloodletting widely for illnesses such as fevers and headaches, and expanded its use in the Roman empire.

Ancient vase depicting bloodletting. Image: Louvre museum

America too has a history with bloodletting - our founding father, George Washington, was a staunch believer of bloodletting and insisted on the technique when he got sick with a sore throat in December 1799. Unfortunately, he died after 4 days likely due to excessive blood loss.

The vast majority of medical scholars today believe that bloodletting harmed more people than it helped, and the practice has largely been discontinued except for certain diseases like hemochromatosis (modern name, phlebotomy). But a recent study concluded that it might have been an effective treatment for bacterial infections before we had antibiotics, proving that ancient doctors were not as crazy as they may seem to us!

Sources

https://www.history.com/news/a-brief-history-of-bloodletting
https://today.duke.edu/2000/02/blood218.html
https://www.webmd.com/men/news/20040910/bloodlettings-benefits

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