In late 1799, George Washington was still able-bodied in his late 60s. He caught what appeared to be a respiratory illness and in the ensuing days his esteemed physicians “bled” him four times before he died. The same useless “treatment” was used in antiquity. Civil War surgeons routinely performed field amputations without hand washing. Three of the four children of Mary and Abraham Lincoln died of mysterious and seemingly unavoidable afflictions.
Today, we live longer…