"If you had a premature baby in America in the 1900s, chances were they would not survive. That is, until Martin Couney came along..."
"In a bizarre attraction in Coney Island, 'Dr Couney' took the children that medicine deemed 'not worth saving' and displayed them to the public in rows of cutting-edge incubators. Over the years, he saved thousands of babies' lives. But the strangest thing was, Martin Couney wasn't a real doctor..."
"Journalist Claire Prentice tells Marc Fennell ( Stuff the British Stole) the incredible true story she unearthed while covering a presidential election, and the miracle babies she eventually met in real life."
Premature infants in early 1900s America faced extremely high mortality rates. Martin Couney operated a Coney Island attraction where premature babies were placed in rows of cutting-edge incubators and displayed to the public. He accepted infants that contemporary medicine deemed not worth saving and charged admission fees to fund their care. Over the years, thousands of babies survived under his care despite Couney lacking formal medical credentials. The combination of practical incubator technology, continuous nursing attention, and public funding through exhibition enabled outcomes far better than mainstream hospital practices of the time.
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