University of Pardubice Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

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The good doctor: intergenerational dispute on the ideal physician in the Czech Lands (1840s-1890s)

Authors: Rambousková Barbora

Year: 2021

Type of publication: ostatní - přednáška nebo poster

Page from-to: nestránkováno

Titles:

Language	Name	Abstract	Keywords
eng	The good doctor: intergenerational dispute on the ideal physician in the Czech Lands (1840s-1890s)	"In the second half of the nineteenth century, professionalisation of the medical market was under way in the Czech Lands, one of the most prosperous regions of the Austrian Empire. The physicians aimed not only at eliminating competition such as quacks, bloodletting surgeons and other alternative healers, but also succeed individually in competition with their collegues. In this period of “therapeutical nihilism“ when physicians alredy knew the cause of many maladies but were unable to efficiently cure them, a new generation of physicians appeared in the Czech Lands, that strove to apply new medical findings in everyday practice while, at the same time, competing for patients at a highly competitive market. For this innovating group of young physicians it was very difficult to safeguard their professional honour vis à vis their patients, who were very assertive in their demands and in promoting their own ideas about suitable therapies, as the physicians and their families depended mostly on the fees paid to them by these very patients. In my paper I explore the dispute between the older and the younger generation of Czech physicians concerning the ideal physician and his professional honour. The inter-generational conflict will be analysed in case studies on bloodletting and drug prescriptions. As a mirror image, I will outline the notion of a good physician in the imaginary of the contemporary Czech society through a glimpse into period novels and stories. "	history of medicine; czech lands; bloodleting