Ostracized for Promoting Handwashing

Handwashing was the rallying cry of Ignaz Semmelweis, a young Hungarian doctor trying to end the scourge of childbed fever and lower maternal mortality rates in the 1840s, well before germ theory entered scientific thought. He was largely rejected by his peers in the medical community. Guest: Guest: Anthony Valerio, editor, teacher, and author of “Semmelweis: The Women's Doctor”