56 Strange Medical Practices In History

By | March 2, 2019

In The 1950s You Could Buy Cigarettes In The Hospital, Somehow This Idea Didn't Stick

Medicine and medical practices are constantly being updated. There’s always a better way to perform an operation that’s safer, and that gets the job done with less pain. However, many attempts at medical science from the 19th and early 20th centuries look pretty crazy when you compare them to the medical instruments and practices that we have today.

If you’ve always wanted to know what it was like to get a blood transfusion in the 1970s, or how electroshock therapy works, we’ve got some amazing photos and killer facts for you. You’ll definitely want to tell your friends about this one. Read on! 

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Source: Reddit

As absurd as it may seem in this day and age, someone recovering in the hospital in the 1950s was able to buy a pack of cigarettes and light up while they rested following an operation. Imagine, you just had open heart surgery and the first thing you do is light up your favorite brand of unfiltered cigarette. Was it healthy? No way. But at the time it was totally normal.

Dana Siegal, a former nurse told Stat News

It’s absolutely absurd to think there was a time when we actually smoked at the nurses station, sold cigarettes to patients, or bummed a smoke off of patients.

English Children From 1942 Wearing Their Gas Masks

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Source: Reddit

Life in England during World War II was no treat. The German army was bombing the country on a consistent basis and firefights wee breaking out in France, which is pretty close to the homeland. In order protect the people of England against possible gas attacks by Germany, gas masks were given out by the English government, and colorful gas mask known as the “Mickey Mouse” mask was handed out to children.

Children as young as toddlers were taught how to apply their gas masks, and in order to normalize the wearing of these creepy masks parents began making a game of wearing the masks and letting them wear the face coverings on a regular basis.