Medieval learned medicine based on Galen harmed patients more than folk remedies did

Evidence

Galen viewed the heart as a furnace (rather than a pump, which would be a more accurate analogy). Galen’s version of how the body worked was fundamentally mistaken and Galenic medicine did not actually help anyone to get better. It was a systematic way of misunderstanding the world and, in general, a sick person was probably better off going to a wise woman than consulting a learned physician who had immersed himself in Galen. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 69

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Relates to ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ in that both concern credentialed expertise carrying forward inherited error — here the medical variant.