Medical Malpractice of the Past in the U.S.

The U.S. medical picture was influenced in its past by British parentage. As a consequence, at the start of the 1800s in the U.S., fewer than 100 basic medicines existed. Medical practice was centered on what had been for centuries the pillars of medicine, the four Humors, none scientific (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood). “Vitalism”, incorporating body energy principles, and other pet theories of various universities around the world had their pet convictions. 
 
Doctors were assisted by midwives who did more than deliver babies. However, the level of midwife non-medical knowledge was never advanced;. they were taught by family and other close acquaintances, rather than formal teaching institutions.
 
Blood-letting, cupping, poultices, sweating, along with “purges” were the then modernized versions of such century-old humor-related therapy. All of which apparently did not work well. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)