Heroic medicine is a twentieth century term for aggressive medical practices or methods of treatment used until the mid-nineteenth century,[1] and usually refers to treatments that scientific advances later replaced.
A similar term or expression was first used by the philosopher Immanuel Kant at the end of the third section of his book The Conflict of the Faculties, .[2] Kant writes, "this, admittedly, is the quickest way of ending a conflict; but it is also (in medical terms) a heroic means - one that endangers life."
Benjamin Rush (1745–1813), who signed the American Declaration of Independence and is considered one of the “fathers" of American medicine, and who trained in medicine at Edinburgh University (1766–1768), strongly advocated “heroic medicine”.[3]
During the "Age of Heroic Medicine" (1780–1850),[4] educated professional physicians aggressively practiced "heroic medicine," including bloodletting (venesection[4]), intestinal purging (calomel), vomiting (tartar emetic), profuse sweating (diaphoretics) and blistering, stressing already weakened bodies.[1] Physicians originally treated diseases like syphilis with salves made from mercury.[5] While well-intentioned, and often well-accepted by the medical community, these treatments were actually harmful to the patient.