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8. The richer you were, the more likely it was you would survive surgery – mainly because you were treated at home instead of in a filthy hospital.
Throughout the 19th century, hospitals were dreaded places. So much so that most sane people only went into a hospital as a very last resort. In Britain, the wealthy preferred to stay at home and have a physician come to them. Surgical procedures were also carried out in the homes of the wealthy. This shielded the rich from the dirt, germs and general unpleasantness of the average hospital, as well as from the risks posed by being surrounded by sick people. As a result, patients who had surgery at home usually fared better than those unfortunate souls who had to go into hospital.
The finest surgeons of the age would often be summoned to mansions or even palaces to carry out emergency surgery. Most famously of all, in 1871 eminent surgeon Joseph Lister was called to Balmoral, the Royal Family’s home in Scotland. He was instructed to perform surgery on an abscess located in the armpit of Queen Victoria herself. It was, probably correctly, assumed that, left unattended, this could be fatal. Lister’s actions at Balmoral, including his insistence on a clean room and on sterilizing his instruments, won him the Queen’s thanks and made him one of Europe’s most famous doctors.