In Europe, in the 1840’s in the best hospitals (London General, Paris Maternite, and Dresden Maternity), a mysterious fever hit maternity wards in epidemic fashion. The hardest hit hospital was General Hospital in Vienna. Between 1841-1846 twenty thousand babies were born; two thousand mothers died (that’s 1 in 10). In 1847 things got worse: 1 in 6 mothers died due to the mysterious fever.

Dr. Semmelweis enters the scene. A rare combination of brilliance and compassion, this doctor compared the death rates of mothers/infants in General Hospital with that of midwives outside of the hospital. He found that a mother/baby was 2x more likely to die in his hospital than outside.

After months of research he came to the conclusion that the answer was right in front of him. These women were dying of the mystery fever that was not contagious (doctors didn’t die) nor was it circulating in the broader community (mid-wives were highly successful). The mystery fever was the result of doctors coming straight from autopsy labs (researching the dead bodies of mothers and infants) into the maternity wards without thoroughly washing their hands.

It would take several years before “germ theory” gained respect in the medical community (ala two other big questions: Is the world round or flat? Does the sun revolve around the earth or the earth around the sun?). In the first year at General Hospital, this doctor’s discovery saved 300 mothers and 250 babies alone. That’s in just one hospital.

Unfortunately, Semmelweis a) wasn’t taken seriously in the broader medical community,  b)was tricked into entering a sanatorium where he died at a fairly young age.

Sometimes we are the enemy. A new year is upon us. A new decade. May we pursue fixing ourselves as passionately as we pursue fixing everyone and everything else around us.

(NOTE: This is a summary from a story told in SuperFreaknomics, 136ff).