Summary of Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst, M.D.'s Trick or Treatment

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The boom in bloodletting started in Ancient Greece, where it fit in with the widespread view that diseases are caused by an imbalance of four bodily fluids: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Unaware of how blood circulates around the body, Greek physicians believed that it could become stagnant and cause ill-health. #2 The practice of bloodletting was taken to America with the European colonization of the New World. American physicians saw no reason to question the techniques taught by the great European hospitals and universities, so they also considered bloodletting to be a mainstream medical procedure. #3 On 14 December 1799, George Washington contracted a cold that would prove to be the greatest threat to his life. He had to be bloodlettenged multiple times, and even poulticed, but none of it helped. By the evening, it was clear that his powers of life were clearly yielding to the force of the disorder. #4 The doctors who treated George Washington after he was wounded in the Battle of Yorktown were criticized for their bloodletting methods, but they claimed that it was a last-ditch effort to save the president’s life.