Wednesdays – Lecture Series

Wednesdays – Lecture Series

Presented by Herb Kaufman

9/4 “Miracle Cures, Outlandish Remedies, and Victorian Medical Practices”

In popular media physicians and surgeons in the Victorian Era are usually portrayed as blood-soaked butchers who do nothing all day but unnecessarily amputate limbs from the poor, wounded soldiers, screaming in pain.  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.  Medical practices as portrayed in movies, on television and in many novels are created to excite and dramatize the event.  While the medical practices were certainly naïve and unsophisticated by today’s standards, Victorian Era physicians truly worked tirelessly and diligently to heal the wounded and comfort the ill. This presentation is intended to dispel myths and explain the differences between the movies and the actual medical practices.

9/11 The Medical Treatment of Our Four Assassinated Presidents.

Over the years, many, many questions concerning the treatment of our assassinated Presidents have been raised.  Beginning with the shooting of President Lincoln in 1865, this presentation will examine the medical methods and treatment of our four assassinated presidents: Would President Lincoln have lived with modern medical treatment?  Did the doctors really kill President Garfield?  Why was President McKinley not taken to a hospital?  How did the medical team approach the treatment of President Kennedy?  These and other questions will be answered in this presentation, “The Medical Treatment of Our Four Assassinated Presidents.”