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medpundit |
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Wednesday, February 12, 2003Doctors who declined to risk their skins for their profession include some of the famous physicians of history. Galen, the eminent Greek doctor, fled Rome in A.D. 166 at the onset of an epidemic that might have been smallpox. Thomas Sydenham, the pre-eminent cardiologist of 17th century London, left town as soon as plague broke out there in 1665. When yellow fever struck Philadelphia in 1793, three of the best known doctors immediately headed for the Poconos (but the indomitable Benjamin Rush stayed behind). These men were hardly the exceptions. Medieval records repeatedly bemoan the cowardice of doctors who left infected towns during the great bubonic plague epidemic of the 14th century (and also note the outrageous consultation fees demanded by those who stayed). In an outbreak of plague in Venice, most of the doctors who did not actually leave the city locked themselves in their houses and refused to come out. Ultimately many European cities resorted to hiring "plague doctors" ? usually young graduates paid generous salaries to treat plague patients and relieve other doctors of that duty. But even plague doctors had their limits sometimes. "If you are asked to treat a patient with no chance of recovery," wrote the author of a late-14th-century medical textbook, "say that you will be leaving town shortly and cannot take the case." posted by Sydney on 2/12/2003 06:40:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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