blood-letting

/ ˈblʌdˌlɛtɪŋ /

noun

1. the therapeutic removal of blood, as in relieving congestive heart failure See also phlebotomy

2. bloodshed, esp in a blood feud

Example Sentences

Now, the scientists have recommended two types of treatments: cholesterol-lowering tablets, and blood-letting - a treatment where blood is gradually withdrawn from a vein, allowing the body to naturally replenish it.

Read more on BBC

The events in Baniyas, as recounted by activists, victims’ relatives and local news reports, were part of a violent spasm of blood-letting over the last three days in Syria’s coastal areas that saw hundreds of people — most of them civilians — killed in clashes between forces with the country’s new Islamist government and militants affiliated with the former regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

These are famously the ideas that led medieval doctors to believe blood-letting would help cure illness.

Read more on Salon

Israel took revenge, hammering Gaza with air strikes and razing entire districts in some of the worst blood-letting in the 75 years of conflict.

Read more on Reuters

Israeli air strikes attacked Gaza on Tuesday, razing entire districts in the densely populated and impoverished enclave, filling morgues with Palestinians, including women and children, as it took "revenge" for a deadly weekend of Hamas attacks that triggered some of the worst blood-letting in 75 years.

Read more on Reuters