Why was hand washing rejected?

The rejection of hand washing, particularly during Ignaz Semmelweis's era, was rooted in cultural and societal beliefs. Hand washing was seen as an effeminate act, and male doctors found it unmanly to clean their hands. This cultural attitude presented significant resistance to Semmelweis's advocacy for the practice, even though his observations showed it drastically reduced the death rate from childbed fever.

Semmelweis's successor, influenced by societal norms and dismissing empirical evidence, stopped the hand washing practice, leading to a resurgence in maternal deaths. The refusal to integrate new information due to deeply entrenched social beliefs caused significant resistance to this life-saving practice 1 2.