Stones and Obstruction
For centuries the practice of removing stones, or lithotomy, was looked down upon by the medical profession as a trade best left to traveling barber-surgeons, who included in their resume other minor surgical procedures such as dental extractions, bloodletting, abscess drainage, and fracture repair. Death was certain without intervention and the chance of survival from lithotomy was about 10 per cent, so physicians avoided taking on this challenge. Dr. Sydenham commented, “The patient suffers until he is finally consumed by both age and illness, and the poor man is happy to die.”