19th Century Medical History

Medical History of the 19th Century Back in the early 19th century, medical treatments either didn’t work, or they hurt a person more than help them. Slaveowners would try to remedy the diseases and injuries their slaves would receive, but this did not work very well. Slaveowners would also still force their slaves to work no matter how ill they were. Research about slaves and diseases shows that illnesses of slaves weren’t treated adequately, and slaves were forced to work even while sick. (“Conditions of Antebellum Slavery”). When slaveowners could not fix the problems themselves, they would generally call a doctor or make the slave keep working until eventual death. Hygiene was also a major cause of disease and deaths, as explained by Rigsarkivet,