Review: Miracle at Coney Island: How a Sideshow Doctor Saved Thousands of Babies and Transformed American Medicine

Miracle at Coney Island: How a Sideshow Doctor Saved Thousands of Babies and Transformed American Medicine by Claire Prentice
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is quite an interesting story. Dr. Martin Couney was a pioneer in the incubation therapy of premature babies. He started out life as Martin Cohn, but eventually changed his name to Martin Couney when he emigrated to America in the late 1800s. Couney was also not a trained doctor, although many did not realize it. He made a name for himself by creating incubator shows at various worlds fairs, expos, and the boardwalks of Atlantic City and Coney Island, helping to save the lives of thousands of premature babies. Set up as sideshows, Couney charged onlookers to view the babies in the incubators or being washed and nursed to a survivable weight. His patients came from area hospitals and doctors who did not have the equipment to help them survive. Many parents of preemies made their way to Couney to ask for help in saving their newborn. He had an outstanding record with a low mortality rate, that likely was the reason the AMA ignored his lack of credentials.

This is a quite unusual read. You're not sure whether to be horrified that the babies were used as part of a sideshow or impressed that this "not a real doctor" actually did a good thing for thousands of babies who have gone on to lead long normal lives. They surely would have died as infants had it not be for Dr. Couney. He may not have had the credentials to be a doctor, but he knew what he was doing and a lot of people have him to thank for their lives.

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