An accomplished medical doctor as well as an enthusiastic history buff, Dr. Jerry M. Foster finds Civil War history endlessly fascinating, especially from a medical standpoint. The Civil War, explains Dr. Jerry M. Foster, took place during a medical era that had not yet caught up to the war technology. The injuries being sustained by Civil War soldiers, reports Dr. Jerry M. Foster, were a challenge to the country’s medical expertise at the time. In fact, Dr. Jerry M. Foster explains that many physicians at the time had excellent training much  of their learning came by experience in the field. They also had little concept of germ-borne disease, continues Dr. Jerry M. Foster, making them unaware of the sanitary measures that we take for granted today.

Dr. Jerry M. Foster says that minnie ball and artillery Civil War injuries led to trauma that doctors at the time had no experience treating. As often the case, adds Dr. Jerry M. Foster, disease accounted for a large morbidity and mortality with 60% of Union deaths and 66% of Confederate deaths. Civil War infectious disease rates were high, says Dr. Jerry M. Foster, because the medical establishment had not embraced the germ theory of disease as a whole regarding wound care and contagion prevention. The scant nutrition, poor sanitation and harsh conditions of life in the field, points out Dr. Jerry M. Foster, were an ideal setting for the spread of communicable diseases.

According to Dr. Jerry M. Foster, the diseases causing the most deaths during the Civil War were acute dysentery, acute and chronic diarrhea, typhoid, and malaria. Whole units were at decimated by disease resulting in considerable loss of effective troops for battle. “Hardening” in   camps of instruction, concludes Dr. Jerry M. Foster, allowed non-immune  troops to be exposed to disease and conditions not previously encountered and resulted in improved health of soldiers sent to the armies.

Dr. Jerry M. Foster is Board Certified in Medical Oncology and Internal Medicine. Dr. Jerry M. Foster completed his formal academic studies at distinguished universities in North Carolina, Tennessee, and England. After rigorous medical training and an oncology residency, Dr. Jerry M. Foster chose to pour his talents into his middle Tennessee community. Dr. Jerry M. Foster’s vocation is tempered by his Christian ethos, dedicated to the betterment of humanity. Dr. Jerry M. Foster gives his time freely to volunteer endeavors like Samaritan’s Purse and the Room at the Inn Homeless Ministry, as well as medical relief trips abroad to help the needy children of Haiti. Dr. Jerry M. Foster values family above all else, and lives happily with his wife Patty and two daughters near Nashville, Tennessee.