Friday, January 22, 2016

Another Reason to Watch Mercy Street


I have read many reviews of Mercy Street and, like most shows they cover a wide range.  Some love it, others are less enthusiastic.  Some reviewers speak of costuming and others of script writing, some look at the actors and others at story line.  Everyone has their take, but few have talked about the subject matter as it relates to our modern world.  So, with that in mind, here is my take.

It is agreed by historians that the Civil War changed America forever.  Yet, the understanding of medicine of the era is still mostly misunderstood.  The myths set forth in over a century and a half of popular history have continued to be the main source for understanding Civil War Medicine.  The suffering of the era has nearly been complete in obscuring the radical effect of Civil War era innovation on the current century.

Now a PBS production has delved into this confused world.  Fortunately, they have been willing to go into this project with a willingness to set historical accuracy as a high priority.  Many of the characters are real and are based on either their own accounts, or the accounts of those they worked with.  Others are collections of actual people whose stories might otherwise be lost.  They have even set up a nice website to allow all of us to explore the stories behind the people and places.  But they went further than that.

They also employed the help of scholars like Dr. Shauna Divine whose outstanding, award winning  book Learning From the Wounded has helped to reshape the understanding of Civil War medicine as a scientific watershed.  They also consulted with Dr. Alfred  J. Bollet, author of the famed Civil War Medicine, Challenges and Triumphs.  And they utilized the staff and volunteers the National Museum of Civil War Medicine whose has also set up a website specifically for the show.  I too, got to have input with many others.  But the question may still be asked:so what?

This show is not simply important because it will replace Downton Abbey.  It is not simply important because PBS has chosen it to bring American made shows back to the forefront of its offerings.  It is important because the issues brought up in this drama play out in our lives every day, and most of America does not even know it.

In the first episode we see nurse Mary Phinney as she struggles with her personal politics and her duties to care for "enemy" soldiers.  This struggle was real for many on both sides of the war. International  humanitarian law would be forever changed as a result of the Civil War.  Our solutions and experiences in the United States would help inform future treaties, non-governmental relief organization practices and care givers to this very day.  People like Clara Barton would go on to change how relief was delivered and organized.  Today every time we see relief in a disaster zone or battlefield, her legacy is there.

 Major Jonathon Letterman helped to organize the first truly systematic emergency response

organization in our history and his basic plan has become the world standard.  He linked evacuation, first aid, medical logistics and medical command and control and medical intelligence into a structure that cared for the wounded and sick from their first moment of need and moved them from places of danger to safety in a well supplied, highly professional medical department.  His plan can even be seen on our civilian EMS services today in every community in our country.  

We even see the role of chaplains and faith in healing process.  Empirical studies in the past few years have shown growing understanding that chaplains do indeed assist in healing process.  In an age of ever growing health care debates, more and more healthcare providers are looking at the role of the chaplaincy in making care delivery more effective for the patient.  This is not new, but also little thought in the public forum.  

There are many more current issues that were present during the war and as the show continues, I hope to blog about these issues.  The point is, this new program is not just about entertainment, it is a refection on our past that can help us illuminate our present and future. Just one more reason to give Mercy Street a chance.  

4 comments:

  1. I like it. It's about time they showed the unsung heroes with that being the doctors and nurses. I'm an RN and can only imagine what the doctors, nurses, soldiers went through.

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    1. Hello George and thank you for an insightful analysis of Mercy Street. As a living historian and a physician, I was excited to see a rarely covered part of the Civil War on PBS. Being knowledgeable about a certain period in minutia sometimes causes us living historians to see the trees and ignore the whole forest. Yes there are problems with accuracy regarding some of the women's clothing and hair but it communicates the overwhelming health problem the armies, specifically the Union army had to deal with the onset of the war. The medical system of the US was woefully unprepared for the carnage that the development of modern firearms and ammunition would have on the soldiers. The minie ball and the rifled musket wrought more destruction on the human body not seen in previous wars. Physicians prior to that time were more passive in their disease management in what they did for patients outside of childbirth, very few did invasive surgery. The medical and surgical problems forced physicians who had had uneven formal training in the US to formulate new approaches and aggressive interventions than they had done in the past. It was massive on the job training which resulted in a 7000% increase in surgery postwar. Historically, all wars create new medical solutions and in the Civil War it birthed: triaging, the Letterman ambulance system, more invasive surgery and the incorporation of new nursing philosophies that had been birthed several years earlier by Florence Nightingale in the Crimean war. It saw the transformation of nursing into a mostly female occupation that exists to this day by the end of the war and was part of the first movement of women working outside the home due to necessity. What I am enjoying is seeing the conflict of old vs. medical practices amongst the doctors and people holding opposite political opinions on the war, struggling to put their individual positions on hold to come together and take care of the wounded soldiers of both sides. The characters are intriguing and I am enjoying the drama that springs from these disparate individuals' views creates. I can't wait for tomorrow's episode. Anita L. Henderson, MD

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  2. As a Downton Abbey watcher, I am pleased that another show is coming along. I watched Mercy Street and really enjoyed it. I have no medical background other than answering phones at a docs office. I am a lover of all things history so I will continue to watch the characters develop and hopefully learn more about a crazy time in our countries history.

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  3. Thanks for your take on this, George. I have great respect for you on many levels, and I value your insight, especially re Nurse Phinney's moral dilemma and the other medical aspects of the show. That said, I felt some of the language/behavior was anachronistic-- as if the writers had given the characters more modern sensibilities than men and women of the era were likely to have. I found myself rolling my eyes more than once...I was disappointed a bit in the show, but will continue to watch nonetheless!

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