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Birth of Semmelweis
Semmelweis was born on July 1, 1818 in Taban (a neighborhood of Buda that is now part of Budapest, Hungary). He was the fifth of 10 children in a prosperous food merchant family of Hungarian Germans Josef Semmelweis and Teresa Müller. -
He entered the University of Vienna
He began studying law at the University of Vienna in 1837. -
Change of university
His participation in an autopsy makes him abandon law and he begins to study at the Allgemeines KrankenHaus, Vienna General Hospital, where he will become a student of Joseph Skoda (professor of clinical medicine), Carl von Rokitansky (professor of pathological anatomy) and Ferdinand von Hebra (professor of dermatology), three distinguished -
He returned home
In 1839 the Budapest School of Medicine was inaugurated and he returned to his hometown to continue his training there. -
He returned the university of viena
But in 1841 he returned to Vienna, dissatisfied with the education received in Pest. -
Degree
In 1844 he graduated in Medicine and spent the next two years working with Rokitansky and dedicated to the study of infection in the field of surgery. -
get a doctorate
In 1846, at the age of 28, he obtained a doctorate in obstetrics and was appointed assistant to Professor Klein, in one of the Maternities of the General Hospice of Vienna. It's the beginning of an obsession. -
realizes a problem
Shortly after starting to work at the Vienna Maternity Hospital, Semmelweis began to observe with concern the high mortality rate among parturients, amidst severe pain, high fever and an intense stench. -
problem discovery and rejection
He discovers that mortality is due to the transmission of infections through the hands, he forces everyone to wash with calcium chloride, mortality plummets, however in court the opinion of Dr. Klein prevails (envy) and on March 20, 1849 Semmelweis is expelled from the Maternity Hospital. -
worst years of Semmelweis
He moves back to his hometown, in the midst of the Hungarian revolution, and his friend Markusovsky finds him months later living in misery, with a broken arm and leg, and hungry. Thanks to him he is accepted into the San Roque Maternity Hospital in Budapest. -
admission to another institution
In 1854, after the death of Professor Birly, he was appointed professor of the Clinical Maternity Hospital at the University of Pest, and from that moment mortality from puerperal sepsis (infections) practically disappeared. -
Semmelweis marriage
That same year Semmelweis married Maria Weidenhoffer (1837-1910), daughter of a successful Pest merchant and 19 years his junior. They had five children: a son died soon after birth, a daughter died at 4 months, another son committed suicide at age 23 (possibly due to gambling debts), another daughter remained unmarried, and a third daughter did have children. -
publication of his book
Semmelweis finally published his book Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers (Etiology, concept and prophylaxis of puerperal fever).Semmelweis finally published his book Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers (Etiology, concept and prophylaxis of puerperal fever). -
Treatment at the psychiatrist
Semmelweis suspected what was happening, tried to flee and was severely beaten by several guards, placed in a straitjacket and locked in a dark cell. In addition to the use of a straitjacket, treatment at the mental institution included cold showers and purges with castor oil, and nurses abused him and left him tied to his bed for hours. -
SEMMELWEIS INTERNSHIP IN A PSYCHIATRIST
Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra tricked him into visiting a new institute in Vienna, but during the trip he was committed to an institution for the mentally ill on Lazarettgasse. -
death of semmelweis
a gangrenous wound possibly caused by the beatings. The autopsy (performed by Rokitansky's team) indicated pyemia and blood poisoning as the cause of death.