His incubators had solved the deadly problem of thermoregulation that many premature babies faced. Budin wanted to share his innovation with the world, but few in the stubborn medical establishment would listen.
Many doctors viewed the practice as pseudo-scientific and outside the realm of standard care. But Dr. Budin was convinced that the Tarnier incubators would save so many lives that he enlisted the help of an associate, Dr. Martin Couney, in exhibiting the new incubators at the World Exposition in Berlin in Apparently blessed with skills in showmanship as well as medicine, Dr. Journal of Perinatology Advanced search. Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature.
Download PDF. Abstract The invention of the incubator in ignited a dramatic outpouring of popular and professional excitement over the prospect of reducing premature infant mortality. Rights and permissions Reprints and Permissions. About this article Cite this article Baker, J. Copy to clipboard. Search Search articles by subject, keyword or author. Show results from All journals This journal.
Sensing the huge opportunities for someone like him to exhibit in America, where there was always a fair or an expo taking place somewhere, Couney immigrated. From , Coney Island was his main base but he travelled around the country as work demanded. Couney's techniques were advanced for the time, including his emphasis on breast milk and his strictness about hygiene. But some of his methods were unconventional. Most hospital doctors believed that contact with premature babies should be kept to a minimum to reduce the risk of infection.
But Couney encouraged his nurses to take the babies out of the incubators to hug and kiss them, believing they responded to affection. Eager to distance himself from Coney Island's more freakish elements, Couney stressed that his facility was a miniature hospital, not a sideshow attraction. The nurses wore starched white uniforms.
He and the doctors wore suits topped with physician's white coats. The incubator facility was always scrubbed spotlessly clean. Couney employed a cook to prepare nutritious meals for his wet nurses. If any were discovered smoking, drinking alcohol or snacking on a hot dog, he would fire them immediately. Yet Couney was not averse to adopting a few showman's tactics himself.
He instructed the nurses to dress the babies in clothes several sizes too large to emphasize how small they were. A big bow tied around the middle of their swaddling clothes further added to the effect.
Despite his life-saving work, children's charities, physicians and health officials accused the incubator doctor of exploiting the babies and endangering their lives by putting them on show. There were regular attempts to shut him down. But as time passed, Couney's track record of saving lives, and his evident sincerity, began to attract supporters from the world of mainstream medicine. In , while exhibiting in Chicago, Couney met a local paediatrician, Julius Hess, who would go on to become known as the father of American neonatology.
It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and an important professional relationship. Some physicians began sending babies to Couney, a tacit acknowledgement at last of the quality of care the babies received in his facility.
Hospitals in the US were slow to establish their own dedicated facilities for premature babies, though. The first on the Eastern seaboard arrived in New York in , 36 years after Couney brought his show to Coney Island. In an article reflecting on Couney's long career in the New Yorker in , the legendary journalist A J Liebling noted: "There are not enough doctors and nurses experienced in this field to go around.
Care of prematures as private patients is hideously expensive The best medical minds in New York couldn't come up with a workable model to save these vulnerable babies. Yet, 40 years earlier, a young immigrant from Europe with little in the way of experience had done just that.
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