In the Victorian era, doctors lacked modern medical knowledge and hospitals, resulting in many deaths from disease and infections. Treatment methods were crude, relying on practices like bloodletting, vomiting induction, herbal remedies, and prayers rather than modern medicine. Major plagues like the Black Death took many lives due to the limited medical understanding and resources of the time. By the end of the era, some advances were made with inventions like the hypodermic needle, but doctors would still seem like gods to their Victorian predecessors due to modern medical knowledge and technology.