Which details describe evidence that led Dr. Semmelweis to conclude that childbed fever could be prevented with handwashing?

Question

Select the two correct answers.

a. Childbed fever caused terrible suffering that led to death within the first day after giving birth
b. Dr. Semmelweis was obsessed with finding the cause of an illness that was taking the lives of nearly a third of his patients
c. Doctors at the hospital performed autopsies on women who had died in childbirth and then examined laboring women
d. Dr. Semmelweis, being both Hungarian and Jewish, was relegated to running the obstetrics division of the hospital
e. Far fewer women died during home and midwife births than during hospital births

Answer 1

The two correct answers that describe evidence leading Dr. Semmelweis to conclude that childbed fever could be prevented with handwashing are:

c. Doctors at the hospital performed autopsies on women who had died in childbirth and then examined laboring women.

e. Far fewer women died during home and midwife births than during hospital births.

These details contributed to his realization that there was a connection between doctors' practices and the spread of infection, leading him to advocate for handwashing to reduce mortality rates.