At MGH, burns were treated with a new technique pioneered by Cope himself and refined by Bradford Cannon: soft gauze covered with petroleum jelly and boric acid ointment. Patients were kept on a closed ward and meticulous sterile technique was used in all patient care activities. A month later, at BCH, 40 of the initial 132 survivors had died, mostly from complications from their burns; at MGH, none of the 39 initial survivors died from their burns (7 died from other causes). As a result, the use of tannic acid as a treatment for burns was phased out as the standard.