Civil War Leg Amputation

Its often assumed that amputations were performed so often because surgeons at the time were unskilled and simply resorted to procedures bordering on butchery.

Civil war leg amputation. The survival rate for amputations done in the first 24 hours after an injury was very good with only 25 mortality. A commonly cited number of amputations during the Civil War is roughly 60000 and. Union surgeons performed approximately 30000 compared to just over 16000 by American surgeons in World War II.

Afterward the doctor would roll the cuff back down sew it together and create a stump. Although their records are incomplete Confederates most likely performed around the same number of amputations. Physical wounds amputation phantom limb sensation and pain.

During the Crimean War in the mid-1850s it had been demonstrated again that primary amputation was the best way to save the most lives. Performed quickly to minimize blood loss and shock countless arms legs hands and fingers were lopped off in order to prevent the spread of infection. The closer the amputation was to the chest and torso the lower the chances were of survival as the result of blood loss or other complications.

Amputations were the chief mode of major surgery before and during the Civil War. Handbook of Operative Surgery 1863. One of the first soldiers to undergo an amputation during the Civil War was Private James Hanger of Churchville Virginia who lost his leg during the Battle of Philippi on June 3 1861.

For a leg amputation the tourniquet should be placed exactly over the femoral artery. A circular amputation involved rolling the tissue and skin up like a cuffed sleeve before cutting the bone. For more than a year he suffered repeated infections in the wound and poor health until Surgeon Edwin Bentley amputated the limb.

Civil war amputation process. When amputations were done after the first 24 hours the mortality rate doubled to 50. From from the medical textbook Handbook of Surgical Operations U.