History Main / HarmfulHealing

** In UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, medical professionals often went beyond simple ignorance into borderline malice. Not only did they tend to have worse bedside manner than TheGrimReaper, but unsanitary conditions ''[[ValuesDissonance were seen as a source of pride]]'' as they implied experience. It was so bad that being operated on in a hospital ''increased'' your chances of dying horribly, while the upper classes paid to have surgeons make house calls. Since surgery had to be done quickly due to anesthesia not being an option, surgeons were more prized for speed and ferocity than skill and many didn't attend university or medical school with some even being illiterate. The average medical practitioners of the time were so [[ComicallyIneptHealing comically inept]] that MadDoctor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Liston Robert Liston]] managed to be the only man in history to (allegedly) perform a surgery with a ''300%'' mortality rate (moving so fast he injured two bystanders and the patient died of gangrene) and still be TheAce of the time. When pathologist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lister Joseph Lister]] discovered the importance of sterility, he was [[IgnoredExpert vilified by the British medical community]] who were in denial that they had been actively killing people, and he wasn't taken seriously until he went to America with his findings.

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva]]'' or FOP, a disease that causes the body's self-repair system to replace damaged soft tissue with bone. It has the potential to eventually lead to AndIMustScream when the afflicted individual's limbs become too rigid to move.

* In a distant ''Series/SevenDays'' [[BadFuture Alternate Future]], a good GirlOfTheWeek doctor's present-day invention of the cure for cancer wipes out all humanity.

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': In "Miller's Crossing", Rodney [=McKay=] and his sister Jeannie are kidnapped by a wealthy industrialist to modify [[NanoMachines experimental nanoprobes]] so that they can cure [[LittlestCancerPatient his young daughter's cancer]]. The [=McKays=] reluctantly agree (not that they have much choice) and it seems to work successfully until it turns out that the probes are far too aggressive and tried to fix a minor heart defect by killing and reviving the girl... after several minutes of oxygen deprivation to her brain. While the nanites will eventually repair the brain damage as well, it's effectively a DeathOfPersonality, since all her memories are gone. Unfortunately, the man who kidnapped them injected [=McKay=]'s sister with the nanites to give him an incentive to help, and the nanites almost do the same thing to her.

* In the ''Literature/IronDruidChronicles'' this is the reason why druids only practice healing magic on themselves. Healing magic can easily harm the subject before making him/her better and if you use druid magic to directly harm a living, sentient being the magic will kill you instantly. Only the druid's own body is an exception to the rule so druids have SuperHealing for themselves but cannot even try to heal even the simplest cut on someone else without risking death.
* In Creator/RobinHobb's ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Liveship Traders]]'' and ''Fool'' trilogies, the Skill can be used to accelerate healing or fix otherwise irreparable injuries, but it badly taxes the patient's body and drains their energy reserves.