Blood and Justice

Pete Moore

John Wiley, 2002, Hardcover, £16.00, pp 248

ISBN 0 470 84842 1

Rating: **

Millions of blood donations are collected every year and are used in nearly every specialty of medicine to save countless lives. It is taken for granted that blood will be there for us to use when we need itas a doctor treating a patient, or as a patient in need ourselves. It has taken several centuries of research and discovery for blood transfusion to function as effectively as it does today.

Pete Moores Blood and Justice delves into 17th century Europe, a period of innovation. Leading scientists of the day are battling to make history—by transfusing a lambs blood into a human being. Blood was seen as magical and sacred in the 1600s, no one knew where is came from or what it was for. The favoured treatment was to bleed it out of patients, whatever their symptoms. William Harvey was essentially ignored in 1620 when he showed that blood circulates around the body, so the controversial medics who decided to investigate the merits of feeding blood back into the body were viewed with much scepticism.

The book follows the progress of French pioneer Jean-Baptise Denis, who earned his place in history for successfully performing the first blood transfusion on a human—but ended up on trial for murder as his early experiments went horribly wrong.

The story reminded me of how much has been achieved in medicine over the past 400 years, scientifically, clinically and ethically. In Deniss time, treatment was based on myth and experimentation and doctors were renowned for doing more harm than good. Psychiatric patients were freely used as guinea pigstied down without consent and subjected to life threatening experiments. Doctors of the day stuck together, showing a reluctance to accept ideas and research that deviated from the traditionally held understanding. Much has changed since then, but Moore makes a valid point in comparing the 17th century blood transfusion debate with todays discussions surrounding stem cells and cloning.

The laborious procedure of discovery is illustrated in Blood and Justice using plenty of original sources and historical detail, which although interesting become slightly repetitive towards the end of the book. The history behind transfusion is worth knowing, and after reading about it through the eyes of a 17th century clinician, I will definitely think next time Im munching on my post blood donation biscuit.