The Strange Story Of Essie Dunbar, The Woman Who Was Allegedly Buried Alive In 1915
None of this establishes that Essie Dunbar was actually misdiagnosed.
It establishes that the conditions under which misdiagnosis might occur were, for a Black woman in rural South Carolina in 1915, meaningfully different from those that would apply to a white patient at a major medical center in the same period.
The Medical Definition of Death in 1915
The medical definition of death in 1915 was in some ways simpler and in some ways more uncertain than the definitions that govern contemporary medical practice.
In 1915, death was typically defined by the cessation of circulatory and respiratory function — the stopping of the heart and the stopping of breathing.
You Might Also Like
I Came Home Two Days Early to Surprise My Family — and Found My Mother Rationed, Bruised, and Terrified in My Own Kitchen
Daily Gossips
The Scars I Walked Through Fire For
Daily Gossips
The 24,000-Year-Old Boy Buried Beneath A Stone Slab With 120 Beads And Mammoth-Ivory Jewelry — And The DNA Test That Revealed A Hidden Source Of Native American Ancestry
Daily Gossips
When the Queen Returns to the Board
Daily Gossips