The doctor and midwife who lived in this house were responsible for helping eradicate neonatal tetanus, a very common cause of perinatal mortality in Iceland and especially Vestmanneyjar up to the mid 19th century. The disease was due in part to the practice of drying clothes, and particularly swaddling clothes, on stone walls where they picked up the tetanus bacteria. Proper hygiene of the umbilical cord was also instituted to reduce the danger of infection.