 According to some historians and medical experts , Garfield might have survived his wounds had the doctors attending him had at their disposal today 's medical research , techniques , and equipment . Standard medical practice at the time dictated that priority be given to locating the path of the bullet . Several of his doctors inserted their unsterilized fingers into the wound to probe for the bullet , a common practice in the 1880s . Historians agree that massive infection was a significant factor in President Garfield 's demise . Biographer Peskin stated that medical malpractice did not contribute to Garfield 's death ; the inevitable infection and blood poisoning that would ensue from a deep bullet wound resulted in damage to multiple organs and spinal bone fragmentation . Rutkow , a professor of surgery at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey , has argued that starvation also played a role . Rutkow suggests that " Garfield had such a nonlethal wound . In today 's world , he would have gone home in a matter of two or three days . " 
