At the beginning of the last century, a scandal erupted in the medical environment around Dr. Martin Coney. He was considered an impostor, a crazy, greedy monster. But it was this man who eventually became the founder of the theory of nursing premature babies with record low weight.
According to some reports, Dr. Martin Coney didn’t have a medical education at all, but it was this clumsy, stooped man who saved the lives of not even thousands, but millions of babies, few of whom had hope for survival. Moreover, he directed the thirst of people to stare at other people's suffering for the salvation of babies, attracted the attention of the public to a new science for those times - neonatology.
Who is Dr. Martin Coney
Few people know that incubators for babies were invented in France back in 1880, but then they were not believed to be effective. For 16 years, the invention lay "on the shelf" until several copies were bought from the developer by a certain Martin Coney. The enterprising German Jew purchased them initially in order to draw attention to them, but he decided to do this in a rather unusual way. Dr. Martin organized an exhibition, and set up incubators with babies inside the halls. Moreover, he arranged a kind of tour of Europe. This approach to the implementation of innovations evoked sense, condemnation among pragmatic Europeans, but did not give the desired result.
In 1903, Dr. Martin Coney went to conquer America. His calculation of the thirst of Americans for unusual and eerie spectacles was the only true one. In the USA of those times, performances where people with physical disabilities were shown were extremely popular. It was on this “button” that the enterprising Martin Coney pressed, hanging a little creepy posters of his exhibition across Brooklyn. The Americans poured into a shaft where, for just 25 cents, you could see premature babies weighing from 600 to 900 grams. Dr. Martin easily recouped the costs of nursing his wards, and 41 of the 58 children who were patients in his incubators survived.
World medicine has received a unique technique. Thanks to Dr. Martin Coney in the professional environment, interest in incubators, detailed recordings of Coney was aroused. Martin kept detailed baby care diaries, each ending with a result report.
Dr. Martin Coney Biography
Martin Arthur Coney, who became the most famous and discussed doctor of his time, was born in 1870. He was a Jewish migrant who moved with his family permanently to Germany. Nothing is known about his childhood and youth. He himself claimed that his ancestors were hereditary healers, the mother's family even had an education in this area, many practiced. He himself, again according to him, studied the profession with the French obstetrician, head of the department of the medical academy, Dr. Pierre-Constantine Budin. And supposedly that is why Budin in 1896 entrusted Martin Coney with his invention - incubators for babies.
Nothing is known about the personal life of the eccentric Doctor Martin, whom contemporaries considered him to be. But the fact is that during the period of his practice, including during exhibitions with incubators, he managed to save almost 7, 000 babies born with a weight of less than 1 kg. And given the fact that Dr. Martin Coney drew attention to the method itself, to the science of neonatalogy, you can safely calculate the saved lives of millions. Yes, he did not invent the incubator. This is the brainchild of his teacher Pierre-Konstantin Budin. The author of the idea and device could not make his colleagues believe in him. Martin Cone managed to do this, albeit by conviction, but succeeded.
Dr. Martin Coney died in early March 1950. For almost 40 years he has been actively engaged in introducing incubators for babies into practice, their improvement and refinement. Modern incubators, in essence, remained the same as Dr. Martin used. Changes are the introduction of separately functioning devices to them.
