Did you ever hear the tragedy of Ignaz Semmelweis? I thought not. It's not a story the Positivists would tell you. It's a pragmatist legend. Ignaz was a surgeon in Vienna, so powerful and so wise he could use chlorine handwashing to influence the childbirth process to save life. He had such a knowledge of obstetrics that he was even nicknamed the "saviour of mothers".

Sanitising medical equipment is a pathway to many patient outcomes some consider to be unnatural.

He became so renowned... the only thing he was concerned with was sharing his power - which eventually, of course, others came to resent. Unfortunately his discoveries predated the germ theory of disease and he was unable to explain why handwashing worked to save life. They had him declared insane and he was beaten to death in an asylum (no joke).

Ironic.

He could save others from death, but not himself.