A review by showell
Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

4.0

Engagingly written narrative biography of Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter, one of the nation's first plastic surgeons, and by this account, a truly compassionate and forward-thinking physician. Despite his penchant for collecting medical oddities to use in his lectures, Dr. Mutter apparently insisted upon his students viewing their patients as people, rather than simply interesting cases. He was also one of the first surgeons to insist upon cleanliness of himself and his tools as a way to reduce post-surgical infection, and to set up a revolutionary system to provide case for his surgical patients before and after their surgeries on the school grounds. (Many of his surgeries were performed in public as demonstrations so that his students could learn / see the techniques for themselves. Before Dr. Mutter, those patients were brought in for the surgery and sent home immediately afterward in a jolting carriage with little to no follow-up care.)

I found some of the medical details graphic and difficult to read. I had to take a few breaks from the book, particularly during the sections when the standard gynecological treatments for women at the time came up, but I came back to it quickly, and ended up finishing the book within 24 hours.