The doctor who was too right

Added: 2026-05-27

The Semmelweis Reflex describes the phenomenon where institutions or groups automatically reject new information or evidence because accepting it would require admitting uncomfortable truths about themselves, as demonstrated by Ignaz Semmelweis in 1847 when he proved doctors were killing patients by not washing hands between autopsies and deliveries, yet was dismissed, ridiculed, and died in an asylum despite his evidence showing death rates dropped from 18% to 2% with handwashing.