The Death of George Washington
December 14, 1799 (67 years old)
Little Mouth of Horrors
Dentistry in the 1700s?
Pain Medicine... or NOT
Dentures
Washington had dentures for most of his life, forcing him to eat mashed-up baby food and laugh with his mouth closed.
Any wonder his second inaugural speech was only 135 words long?
Washington Sickens
December 14, 1799
There are no phones or cars, so getting a doctor means riding a horse eight miles away to inform the doctor he is needed.
Bloodletting
Needless to say, it didn't work.
To top it off, Washington had his secretary and overseer perform a bloodletting. They take a knife and cut deep into a vein in his arm to let the blood flow out into a bowl. A half a pint was taken.
Blister Beetle Treatment
A field of blood blisters are created, which the doctor then drains... yikes!
Washington Gets Worse
Another blistering and bleeding is prescribed. It worked so well the first time, right?
More Bleeding
He needed the oxygen-carrying blood, seeing as how he was slowly suffocating in the first place... but doctors back then really didn't know what they were doing.
The End is Near...
"You had better not take any more trouble about me; but let me go off quietly; I cannot last long."
But they didn't... more blister beetles and stuck wheat-bran poultices all over his legs and feet to suck up every last drop of liquid he had left in him.
He died that night.
He most likely died to epiglottitis, an infection on the flap of skin at the back of the tongue that protects the windpipe. Today, a simple dose of antibiotics would have cured him.
How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg
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