Everett attempts Venesection (bloodletting), a common practice in the now discredited Humorism system of medicine, as a last resort to treat Lillian's meningitis. The instrument used is the lancet, for which the famous UK journal, started in 1823 when Humorism was still commonly practiced, is ironically still named.
'Typhoid Mary' was a real person.
"Mary Mallon was born in 1869 in Ireland and emigrated to the US in 1884. She had worked in a variety of domestic positions for wealthy families prior to settling into her career as a cook. As a healthy carrier of 'Salmonella typhi', her nickname of "Typhoid Mary" had become synonymous with the spread of disease, as many were infected due to her denial of being ill. She was forced into quarantine on two separate occasions on North Brother Island for a total of 26 years and died alone without friends...".
The first successful cesarean section was performed in the United States on January 14th, 1794. Jesse Bennett was the doctor who performed the operation on his wife Elizabeth and delivered a live daughter. On November 19,1893, Professor August Charles Bernays, MD preformed the first successful cesarean section of a placenta previa patient, Mrs. A. M., 42, at the Protestant Hospital, St Louis, Missouri. The mother made a full recovery. Unfortunately the baby died shortly thereafter, due to the premature birth.