doctors were also under a great deal of suspicion 200 hundred years ago or so...the idea of the story of Frankenstein was taken from the fabric of the society of that day...most people did not trust doctors...anything new is under suspicion.
While I don't really disagree with the general point, 200 years ago there was minimal understanding of medical sterilization methods and no anesthetics so it's certainly understandable that surgery at least was viewed with, shall we say, suspicion. Given that you would probably die or be seriously incapacitated in some way.
