It was mid-December 1799, and the weather at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Virginia estate, was miserable. But despite the freezing rain, snow and hail, the beloved former president and “father of our country” rode out on horseback to supervise operations. His wife, Martha, had just recovered from a cold.
Upon his return, Washington remained in his chilled, wet clothes so as not to be late for dinner. By early the next morning, symptoms began to emerge: sore throat, shortness of breath, difficulty swallowing and speaking. He developed a fever.
So what did his medical team do?
Over the next several hours, they drained approximately 40% of Washington’s blood: gave him a tonic of molasses, butter and vinegar that nearly choked him to death; applied to his throat a mixture made from dried beetles and intended to cause blisters; and administered another treatment to induce vomiting.
“Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go,” Washington reportedly said during his final, no doubt excruciating, hours.
There is still speculation over exactly what type of throat infection plagued Washington. We’ll never know for sure, just as we’ll never know for certain whether the barbaric treatments he received were not just ineffective but may have also hastened his death. No doubt they added to his suffering.
Bloodletting and beetle blisters to “balance the humors”? What were they thinking? It all feels so tragically, morbidly ridiculous from our modern perspective to consider that the most revered figure in our nation’s history met such an undignified end.
Lucky for us that we live in an age in which we enjoy the benefits of stunning scientific and medical advancements. Many diseases that would have prompted people to check their wills in times past are now treatable, thanks to medicine based on findings derived from rigorous, painstaking research and development. Some diseases have even been eradicated.
Or so we thought.
It seems we may have underestimated the capacity for human irrationality. For today we are seeing the modern version of intentional bleeding and blistering: vaccine denialism. And the consequences of that denialism are increasingly evident.
Measles outbreaks are occurring across the nation at rates not seen in decades. The number of reported cases in 2025 was the highest in more than 30 years, and this year is already looking to be worse.
Recently, a couple of separate cases tied to Disneyland were identified. The Happiest Place on Earth has been the nexus of previous outbreaks, which makes sense because it is visited by so many people, including travelers who import viruses from other places.
More cases in Orange County are likely to pop up, given that measles is one of the most contagious viruses known. It is easily passed from one person to another through a sneeze, a cough, or even just breathing in fairly close proximity or touching surfaces where the virus has landed. That’s also why the potential for transmission at schools is so concerning.
But for reasons I find difficult to comprehend, the use of the vaccine that protects against measles infections, the vaccine that had eliminated the virus in the U.S. by the year 2000, has been steadily declining. Now many areas, including some pockets in Orange County, are so seriously under-vaccinated that it almost guarantees an outbreak if the virus is introduced — which, again, is highly likely.
Let’s remind ourselves that measles, despite what some might claim, is not a disease to be trifled with. It is a serious disease that can sicken people for weeks, and can lead to life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia and encephalitis.
For anyone with weakened or under-developed immune systems, including cancer patients and infants, the virus can be deadly. Three in every 1,000 people who contract the virus will die.
Yet it is entirely preventable. Vaccination has been shown to be 97% effective after two shots, and any side effects are almost always mild and resolve quickly. So why would anyone decide that they or their children should not be vaccinated?
Unfortunately, far too many people have been taken in by the false claim that the vaccine can cause autism, and by other thoroughly discredited theories about vaccine safety and efficacy.
It doesn’t help that the nation’s public health is now under the control of vaccine critics, including the Department of Health and Human Services head, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has zero scientific or medical credentials, and who recently boasted that he’s not afraid of germs, adding for evidence that he used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.
Needless to say, real experts, those who follow evidence-based science and sound public health measures, are aghast. They’ve been warning us that the anti-vaccine movement could very well lead to the resurrection other terrible diseases such as polio and whooping cough, and that the development of new, life-saving vaccines will be stymied.
We’ve come a long way since the days when people thought that patients could be cured by draining their blood, and I, for one, am grateful for all the breakthroughs that have prolonged lifespans and improved the quality of life for so many people.
How discouraging that some of that progress is now jeopardized by anti-science zealotry. Misguided notions about health care, it would seem, also die hard.