08 March, 2016

Babies On Display: When A Hospital Couldn't Save Them, A Sideshow Did : NPR

Babies On Display: When A Hospital Couldn't Save Them, A Sideshow Did : NPR: "The babies were premature infants kept alive in incubators pioneered by Dr. Martin Couney. The medical establishment had rejected his incubators, but Couney didn't give up on his aims. Each summer for 40 years, he funded his work by displaying the babies and charging admission — 25 cents to see the show.

In turn, parents didn't have to pay for the medical care, and many children survived who never would've had a chance otherwise.

Lucille Horn was one of them. Born in 1920, she, too, ended up in an incubator on Coney Island."



'via Blog this'