My broken bone would have been fine, but folks died of this stuff as well. They would list cause of death as the accident rather than the infection due to lack of knowledge. Compound fractures were more likely to kill.
Even in this day many people can't or don't afford surgery or medication and still manage to survive wounds.
This is true, but people will do some self-care for wounds. Can't afford stitches, but can clean the wound well and use the bandage strips on it and continue to keep it clean. People didn't always do these things and some of the things we did were just wrong, simply for not understanding microbiology.
>I am a bit bothered by such statements. Bodies actually can go a long long way before dying.
Yeah, they can. And yet at the same time life is fragile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage survived a railroad spike in the head at a time where that pretty much would have killed 999 out of 1,000 people.
And perfectly healthy people died by the truckload from the Spanish flu, and influenzas that hit healthy people the hardest because of cytokine storms.
People survived horrific illnesses and injuries throughout the ages and soldiered on. And plenty of people died along the way from those same hardships.
I am a bit bothered by such statements. Bodies actually can go a long long way before dying.
Broken bones can heal on their own for most simple fractures. It wouldve taken months, would've hurt more, might not have been be perfectly aligned, you might limp your whole life, but it works. (And more complex ones can also be difficult or impossible to heal even with modern help.)
As for infections, even though it can go both ways, we can actually heal or at least fight them quite efficiently (if in sufficient health). Abscess, fistula, we have many ways of fighting back or curb infections. It's way more comfortable to skip a week of fever or annoying swelling though, with the perk of approximately guaranteed survival. (Also amputation is a rather ancient technique and can help a lot.)
Even in this day many people can't or don't afford surgery or medication and still manage to survive wounds.