"Newborns do feel pain" reads the opening line of a 1987 New York Times article.
This reality came to light after decades of pressure from parents and laypeople pushed the medical monopoly to review the science.
Muscle relaxants and laughing gas were futile as it turned out.
This reality came to light after decades of pressure from parents and laypeople pushed the medical monopoly to review the science.
Muscle relaxants and laughing gas were futile as it turned out.
The author Philip M. Boffey wrote that 77% of the babies who underwent surgery to repair a blood vessel defect between 1954-1983 worldwide did so without pain-killing drugs.
Several studies in the 1940s showed that babies did not respond to pinpricks in the arm like older kids and thus were immune to pain. Experts explained that this fact was due to an immature nervous system and other internal factors.
The science settled the consensus.
The science settled the consensus.
I imagine the paradigm-shift went down like this:
Stage 1/
Parents and laypeople voice their fears early and get laughed out of most medical offices. Some doctors also express their worries and get shunned by colleagues for praising pseudoscience, a few stay quiet.
Stage 1/
Parents and laypeople voice their fears early and get laughed out of most medical offices. Some doctors also express their worries and get shunned by colleagues for praising pseudoscience, a few stay quiet.
Stage 2/
New evidence that infants utter unique cries and secrete high levels of stress hormones in response to pain emerges. Some doctors realize the neural pathways and brain functions are more mature than previously thought.
New evidence that infants utter unique cries and secrete high levels of stress hormones in response to pain emerges. Some doctors realize the neural pathways and brain functions are more mature than previously thought.
Stage 3/
Early adoption of alternative practices in some hospitals. Pushback from the obsolete way of thinking via censorship, threats, and credibility attacks.
The pressure exerted by laypeople and groups of dissident doctors increases.
Early adoption of alternative practices in some hospitals. Pushback from the obsolete way of thinking via censorship, threats, and credibility attacks.
The pressure exerted by laypeople and groups of dissident doctors increases.
Stage 4/
The lid pops off. A 1987 editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine calls the evidence ''so overwhelming that physicians can no longer act as if all infants were indifferent to pain.''
A revolution occurs. Some hospitals maintain the obsolete practice years later
The lid pops off. A 1987 editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine calls the evidence ''so overwhelming that physicians can no longer act as if all infants were indifferent to pain.''
A revolution occurs. Some hospitals maintain the obsolete practice years later
This story reminds me of Ignaz Semmelweis, who proposed that the cause of the puerperal fever killing infants in the 1800s was the unwashed hands of the doctors performing the delivery.
The establishment ridiculed and discredited him. He ended his life beaten in an asylum.
The establishment ridiculed and discredited him. He ended his life beaten in an asylum.
The consensus needed decades and lawsuits to acknowledge that babies do feel pain
A familiar putrid stench of rotten knowledge lingers these days
And I see blatant tactics to silence critics unfold before my eyes
Remember, dear folks, that history rhymes sometimes
A familiar putrid stench of rotten knowledge lingers these days
And I see blatant tactics to silence critics unfold before my eyes
Remember, dear folks, that history rhymes sometimes
The scientific method is a self-correcting process that is always late to the party by default.
Its role as an emissary is essential to our advancement, yet can have disastrous consequences when it behaves like a master.
This story is a reminder to always keep science in check.
Its role as an emissary is essential to our advancement, yet can have disastrous consequences when it behaves like a master.
This story is a reminder to always keep science in check.
“Hey I don’t think it’s a good idea to cut my child open without anaesthesia”
“LOL Are you a doctor? Then stfu you have no say. The science is settled. Never question it.”
*30 years later*
“ Ok, turns out infants do feel pain. Isn’t science wonderful?“
“LOL Are you a doctor? Then stfu you have no say. The science is settled. Never question it.”
*30 years later*
“ Ok, turns out infants do feel pain. Isn’t science wonderful?“
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