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Not really, Op says: > The only rational use for a doctor back then was if you needed emergency surgery because you were going to die very soon. It was a situation that they could only make better.

Having an arrow in your head qualifies as needing emergency surgery, and it was a situation that they certainly made better.

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They don't disagree on the facts, its just one description is an extremely uncharitable and insulting to the skills of our ancestors. There were talented and skilled healers who did the best they could with the knowledge of the time.

Some of them were definitely noble people but they were still bad at it. Sometimes (often?) the cost of progress is measured in bodies.

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