The surgeon Henry Marsh picks 'the saviour of mothers' Dr Semmelweis

Great Lives

BBC

History, Documentary, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

The biography show where famous guests pick someone from history they admire or they love. Our only rule is they must be dead. Today neurosurgeon Dr Henry Marsh chooses “the saviour of mothers” Dr Ignaz Semmelweis The Hungarian doctor discovered the link between childbirth and puerperal fever in 19th century Vienna but he was ridiculed, ignored and demoted as his discovery challenged the medical orthodoxy. Post-mortems at the time were carried out by doctors before they practised on wards, with no hygiene step between the two. Semmelweis recommended handwashing for doctors, and gathered statistics to prove his theory.

Despite the evidence, the medical establishment was resistant to change and Semmelweis became increasingly traumatised, frustrated and angry. In his final months, he seems to have also developed an organic brain disorder which led to his friends and wife having him restrained and sectioned in a mental asylum where he subsequently died from injuries. Nominator Dr Henry Marsh is the author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery. With the playwright Stephen Brown who cowrote Dr Semmelweis with Sir Mark Rylance. Presented by Matthew Parris and produced for BBC Studios Audio by Ellie Richold

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.0	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.0	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs, moments and movements,
0:14.7	stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.
0:19.1	And the BBC's position at the heart of British music means we can tell those stories like no one else.
0:24.6	We were, are and always will be right there at the center of the narrative.
0:28.6	So whether you want an insightful take on music right now or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous
0:34.9	moments in music check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds. Today's guest is
0:40.1	the retired neurosurgeon Dr Henry Marsh. He's the author of three bestsellers, Do No Harm and Admissions,
0:48.4	both about life as a brain surgeon, and more recently and finally, about life as a doctor turned cancer patient.
0:57.0	Dr Henry Marsh, welcome to great lives.
1:01.0	When asked how you wanted to be introduced you did say retired
1:05.2	neurosurgeon but retired makes it sound as though you're having a rest which I
1:09.8	think is not the case at all is it? No that's got back from Ukraine a few days ago where I was operating and lecturing and generally running about.
1:18.0	What were you doing? Tell me.
1:19.0	Well, I've been going to Ukraine for 32 years.
1:22.0	I've been going more frequently because of the war, not doing
1:25.8	military surgery, but really just trying to raise the morale of my many friends here. I do a lot of
1:31.8	talks and interviews and media stuff but just by going there showing
1:36.3	somebody cares for them they find helpful I know they do find it helpful and who is your
1:42.3	great life Henry? What is the
1:44.1	example vice the Austro-Hungarian doctor who discovered the nature of
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