Medicine That Would Have Changed History

What If the Founders Had a Medicine Cabinet?

By Cayla McGrath

America turns 250 this July.

Most anniversary articles this summer will celebrate with fireworks, founding documents, and famous quotes from Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin. We thought we’d celebrate a little differently by asking an unusual question: What if the Founders had a medicine cabinet?

Half of early American history reads like a record of people dying from infections, dehydration, and wounds that modern medicine routinely treats in the outpatient setting. That’s not meant to criticize eighteenth or nineteenth-century physicians for practicing with the tools they had. Quite the opposite. It serves as a reminder of just how dramatically the floor of basic medical preparedness has risen in a relatively short period of time.

Antibiotics, oral rehydration therapy, antiseptic wound care, hemostatic dressings, and evidence-based trauma management are not ancient discoveries. Many became standard practice within our grandparents’ lifetimes. At Jase, we spend much of our time helping families prepare for disruptions that may happen next month, next hurricane season, or on their next international trip. In honor of America’s 250th anniversary, we thought it might be fun to look backward instead.

Here are seven moments in American history where a modern Jase kit sitting on the shelf could have dramatically altered the outcome.

#1 Valley Forge, Winter 1777–1778

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Most Americans learn about Valley Forge as a story of bitter cold, inadequate clothing, and soldiers enduring a brutal winter. In reality, disease claimed far more lives than frostbite ever did.

Between 1,700 and 2,500 Continental soldiers died during the encampment, making Valley Forge one of the deadliest chapters of the Revolutionary War. Typhus spread through body lice, while dysentery and typhoid fever circulated because of contaminated water sources and poor sanitation. Influenza and pneumonia also moved quickly through an already weakened population. Historians note that nearly two-thirds of these deaths occurred in the spring, after the worst weather had passed.

Unfortunately, the medicine chest available in 1778 offered little relief. Bloodletting, mercury-based purgatives, and opium represented some of the best medical interventions available at the time. Germ theory was still decades away, and oral rehydration therapy had not yet been imagined.

Today, many of the bacterial infections and dehydration-related illnesses that devastated Valley Forge would likely be managed with antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, and improved sanitation practices. Washington still emerges from Valley Forge as a stronger leader, but perhaps he does so with many more soldiers standing alongside him.

#2 George Washington’s Final Illness, 1799

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Many people assume George Washington died simply because his doctors removed too much blood. The story is slightly more nuanced.

Modern historians and infectious disease specialists believe Washington likely suffered from acute bacterial epiglottitis, a rapidly progressing infection that causes swelling of the tissues surrounding the airway. As his breathing became more labored, his physicians attempted nearly every treatment available to them, including repeated bloodletting, blistering compounds, mercury preparations, gargles, and enemas.

By the end of the ordeal, Washington had lost approximately 40 percent of his blood volume.While the infection itself likely initiated his decline, historians increasingly believe that the aggressive interventions of the era significantly worsened his condition. Had Washington developed the same illness today and received prompt antibiotic treatment, there is a good chance he would have recovered within days and enjoyed several more years at Mount Vernon.

#3 Lewis and Clark’s Expedition, 1804–1806

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Lewis and Clark are often remembered as rugged explorers conquering an untamed frontier, but their journals tell a different story. For much of their two-year expedition, members of the Corps of Discovery battled dysentery, skin infections, abscesses, dehydration, and gastrointestinal illnesses.

President Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis to train under Dr. Benjamin Rush before the expedition departed. Rush supplied the group with dozens of his patented mercury-based purgative pills, nicknamed “Thunderclappers.” The medication was considered cutting-edge medicine in 1804, despite causing severe diarrhea and leaving such high concentrations of mercury behind that archaeologists still use soil testing to locate expedition campsites today.

Clark frequently documented sickness spreading among the group and correctly suspected contaminated water sources were contributing to their illnesses.

Today, many of these predictable travel-related problems could likely be managed with a contingency antibiotic, oral rehydration salts, and wound care supplies. It may not make for exciting storytelling, but it probably would have made for a significantly more comfortable expedition

#4 Sacagawea’s Serious Illness, 1805

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During the expedition, Sacagawea developed a severe illness that left her weak, feverish, and in considerable pain. Historical descriptions suggest she experienced symptoms consistent with an infection that today would often be treated successfully with a short course of antibiotics.

Instead, physicians of the era relied on opium, bark preparations, salts, and bloodletting.

Thankfully, Sacagawea recovered. Still, it is remarkable to consider that an illness which nearly altered one of America’s most celebrated expeditions might now be addressed with medications that fit neatly inside a household medicine cabinet.

#5 William Henry Harrison, 1841

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William Henry Harrison did not die because he delivered a lengthy inauguration speech in the rain.

That explanation persisted for generations, but modern historians believe a much different culprit was responsible: typhoid fever.

At the time, Washington, D.C., had primitive sewage infrastructure, and the White House water supply was located downhill from areas used for waste disposal. Harrison developed symptoms consistent with typhoid infection, including severe gastrointestinal illness and progressive dehydration, before dying only thirty-one days into his presidency.

His physicians attempted treatment with opium, castor oil, mercury compounds, and leeches.

Today, oral rehydration therapy alone has prevented millions of deaths worldwide. Combined with appropriate antibiotic treatment, Harrison’s illness would likely have been highly survivable, potentially changing the course of American political history.

#6 James Garfield, 1881

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James Garfield’s story may be the most compelling example of how much medicine has evolved.

Charles Guiteau shot Garfield in July 1881, but historians and surgeons largely agree that the gunshot wound itself was survivable. The bullet missed his spinal cord and lodged behind the pancreas.

What followed was seventy-nine days of increasingly aggressive medical intervention.

Twelve physicians repeatedly inserted unwashed fingers and non-sterile instruments into Garfield’s wound while attempting to locate the bullet. One physician punctured his liver during an examination. Surgeons gradually expanded a relatively small wound into an incision nearly twenty inches long.

All of this occurred fourteen years after Joseph Lister introduced antiseptic surgical techniques in Europe.

Garfield ultimately died from overwhelming infection, malnutrition, and sepsis.

His story highlights a lesson that remains foundational to modern trauma medicine: not every wound benefits from aggressive intervention. Sometimes the best course of action is surprisingly simple. Control bleeding, protect the wound from contamination, monitor carefully, and resist the temptation to make a survivable injury worse.

#7 Theodore Roosevelt’s Bullet Speech, 1912

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Contrary to popular legend, Theodore Roosevelt’s eyeglass case did not stop a bullet.

It merely slowed it down.

After being shot in the chest while campaigning in Milwaukee, Roosevelt quickly assessed himself, determined he was not coughing blood, and proceeded to deliver a ninety-minute speech before seeking medical attention.

Doctors later decided to leave the bullet in place, believing removal posed greater risks than simply allowing it to remain.

Roosevelt carried that bullet for the rest of his life.

Unlike Garfield’s physicians, Roosevelt’s doctors understood an important principle that still guides trauma care today: not every injury requires aggressive intervention. Sometimes, controlling bleeding, preventing contamination, and allowing the body to heal is the wiser course.

The Medical Floor Has Risen

Looking across these seven moments in American history, the common thread is not necessarily bad luck. More often, these individuals simply lived before the medical floor had risen beneath them.

Antibiotics, antiseptic technique, oral rehydration therapy, hemostatic dressings, and evidence-based wound management were not yet available. Many of the illnesses and injuries that once changed the course of history are now the kinds of challenges families can thoughtfully prepare for at home.

Perhaps that’s one of the most meaningful ways to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.

Not only by remembering what earlier generations built, but by appreciating how much safer, healthier, and more medically prepared ordinary families can be today.

At Jase, we believe appropriate medical preparation means keeping that modern medical floor stocked. It means having thoughtful, clinician-built tools available before you need them, so that when life becomes unpredictable, your doctor and pharmacy are already on the shelf, ready when access to care isn’t.

Cayla McGrath is a content strategist with Jase Medical. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a licensed healthcare provider before using any prescription medication.

When You Can’t Get to a Doctor, What’s the Real Alternative?

Antibiotic Stewardship vs Antibiotic Access

By Cayla McGrath

Picture any of these scenarios.

A hurricane makes landfall and the pharmacy two miles from your house is closed for two weeks. Your kid develops a dental abscess at a national park four hours from the nearest urgent care. You’re three days into a cruise when a UTI that started as a minor annoyance becomes something that needs treatment — now. Or it’s a Sunday evening, the symptoms started at 7pm, and the urgent care closed at 6.

These aren’t hypotheticals. They’re the kinds of access failures that happen regularly to regular people — and when they do, the question isn’t “should I see a doctor or take an antibiotic from my shelf?” The real question is a different one entirely.

The Comparison Group Most People Miss

When people hear “antibiotics at home,” the instinct is to compare that to the ideal: walk into a clinic, get examined, get a prescription, pick it up at the pharmacy. That comparison makes the at-home option look unnecessary at best and reckless at worst.

But that’s not the comparison that matters. The comparison that matters is what people actually do when the ideal isn’t available.

They order fish antibiotics online. They take leftover azithromycin from a prescription that was supposed to be finished six months ago. They go to a pharmacy across the border. They dig through their medicine cabinet for an expired Z-Pack and cross their fingers.

This isn’t a fringe behavior. In one multisite survey across six safety-net clinics and two emergency departments in Texas, 43.6% of patients reported using antibiotics without a prescription. Of that group, 26% had already self-medicated with leftover antibiotics from a previous course — and 51% said they intended to do it again. The FDA issued nine warning letters to companies selling fish antibiotics for human consumption in December 2023, then followed with another enforcement action against a major distributor in May 2025. The reason those enforcement actions exist: the market is large enough to warrant them.

So when we talk about what it means to have a prepared antibiotic supply at home — one prescribed by a physician, shipped with clinical guidance, and designed for specific, well-defined conditions — the real comparison isn’t a doctor’s office visit. It’s fish antibiotics and a Google search.

This Isn’t a New Idea

Disaster medicine and travel medicine have been working in this space for decades.

After Hurricane Katrina, researchers followed roughly 18,000 evacuees who had relocated to San Antonio. Federal disaster relief teams supplied just 9% of all chronic care medications dispensed to that population. The remaining 91% came from retail pharmacies doing the work outside the normal clinical encounter — because that encounter wasn’t available. The federal Emergency Prescription Assistance Program exists precisely for this reason.

Travel medicine took the logic a step further. The 2017 International Society of Travel Medicine travelers’ diarrhea guideline explicitly endorses prescriber-initiated self-treatment, where the patient leaves the appointment with the antibiotic in hand and takes it themselves when symptoms meet defined criteria. No clinical visit required at the point of use. The CDC Yellow Book chapter on travelers’ diarrhea aligns with this approach.

In both fields, pharmaceutical access outside the normal clinical encounter is recognized as a necessity — not a stewardship problem.

We’re applying the same principle to the predictable access failures that don’t make the news: the Sunday UTI, the weekend dental abscess, the gap between when symptoms start and when a provider is reachable.

What the JaseCase Actually Is

JaseCase is a prepackaged set of antibiotics prescribed by a physician in advance. It arrives at your home with a written guidebook and one explicit instruction: consult a clinical authority before using anything in it.

That’s not fine print. It’s the design. Every medguide we ship ends with the same line: Consult local health officials for event-specific recommendations. Jase telehealth is the backstop when your regular provider isn’t reachable — it exists so that even in a gap, you’re not making this call alone.

The five antibiotics in the JaseCase are selected from the WHO AWaRe framework, the global standard for antibiotic classification and appropriate use. Three of the five are AWaRe Access tier (the most recommended for common bacterial infections). The other two retain WHO first-line empiric status for the specific scenarios they’re included to cover.

The kit is designed for well-defined, common, self-limiting conditions where the evidence is strong and the treatment path is clear. It’s not for complex diagnoses, chronic conditions, or anything that needs an in-person exam. The clinical work happens on the front end — through the prescribing physician — so you’re not doing diagnostics at home at 11pm.

What the JaseCase Is Not

JaseCase is not a replacement for primary care. It doesn’t belong in every medical decision, and it’s not designed for every situation.

Complex diagnoses, ongoing provider relationships, chronic disease management — those belong in the exam room. The kit covers the gap that exists when that exam room isn’t accessible, not the appointments you can schedule.

We also want to be direct about the stewardship side of this. The strongest argument against home antibiotic supplies is that patients will use them inappropriately — not because the antibiotics are dangerous in the right context, but because self-symptom assessment is imperfect. We take that seriously. The consult-before-use instruction isn’t an afterthought; it’s how we try to keep the diagnostic step in the hands of a clinician whenever that’s possible. And evidence from similar models — patients given structured antibiotic access with clear criteria — shows that appropriate guidance can actually reduce total antibiotic use, not increase it.

The Gap Is Already Being Filled

The market for unguided antibiotic access — fish antibiotics, leftover prescriptions, border pharmacies — is not small, and it’s not shrinking. The FDA’s enforcement actions are evidence that demand is significant enough to warrant federal attention.

JaseCase is a structured alternative in that space. A physician-prescribed, guidebook-supported, consult-before-use supply that gives you something better than fish mox when your regular provider isn’t available. It’s not competing with your doctor’s appointment. It’s competing with what you’d do instead.

If you’ve been curious about preparedness options and want to understand what’s in the kit and how it works, you can learn more at Jase.com

Cayla McGrath is a content strategist with Jase Medical. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a licensed healthcare provider before using any prescription medication.