 Although Joseph Lister 's pioneering work in antisepsis was known to American doctors , with Lister himself having visited America in 1876 , few of them had confidence in it , and none of his advocates were among Garfield 's treating physicians . The physician who took charge at the depot and then at the White House was Doctor Willard Bliss . A noted physician and surgeon , Bliss was an old friend of Garfield , and about a dozen doctors , led by Bliss , were soon probing the wound with unsterilized fingers and instruments . Garfield was given morphine for the pain , and asked Bliss to frankly tell him his chances , which Bliss put at one in a hundred . " Well , Doctor , we 'll take that chance . " 
