Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis - Hardcover

Obenchain traces the life of 19th century Hungarian obstetrician who was shunned and marginalized by colleagues for promoting a visionary but unorthodox origin of childbed fever, (puerperal fever). In an era preceding the germ theory hygienic measures were virtually non-existent. New mothers in particular contracted and died from puerperal fever. Semmelweis suspected that better hygienic measures could prevent these tragic deaths. But, surrounded by ignorance and complacency, the admittedly eccentric Semmelweis was soon marginalized and considered to be a misanthropic crank. Obenchain offers an empathetic and insightful argument, arguing that Semmelweis suffered from bipolar disease, (manic-depressive psychosis). The author illuminates how colleagues, seriously misjudging Semmelweis's methodology, did so based upon ignorance and slothful behavior.

In Genius Belabored, Obenchain enshrines Semmelweis in his rightful place within the pantheon of physicians and scientists whose discoveries have saved the lives of millions over time. This biography offers unique insights into the practice of medicine in this pre-modern era for the general reader, as well as well as any reader with an interest in medicine's tortuous emergence into modernity, and the general history of medicine and obstetrics.