19th Century Health Care
Health care in the 19th century was defined by different people in different terms. There were some different opinions on the status of health care in the 19th century. Chadwick identified poor health as one of the major causes of pauperism. He felt that there needed to be improvements in the sanitation instead of introducing a more extensive medical care. He felt that most of the world’s diseases were caused by poor water supply and /or nutrition.
In the 19th century there were ideas that there should be medical care provided for a fixed yearly fee. The corporate practice of medicine which was the medical practices which were controlled by companies and not by doctors. American companies came up with this idea in the 19th century. Some companies (such as railroad and lumber companies) built their own hospitals because they would be in remote areas where health care was scarce. Otherwise the employees of these companies would have to go without medical care. The doctors and nurses of these hospitals were paid by the companies. By the early 1900's contract medicine was very common in the United States and was used by many kinds of businesses. The government took on this idea and began building their own hospitals and hiring their own doctors for their employees, prisoners, and wards of the state. There was a lot of dispute between the medical organizations and the state legislatures over the contract medicine facilities. Some people felt that there was no contact between the individuals and the doctors so the personal contact was not there as it should be. The physicians who practiced contract medicine were thought of as less than a real physician. This made it hard for these contract doctors to join in with society and it was very hard for them to purchase malpractice insurance or to get hospital privileges. It was believed that contract medicine was bad medicine and prevent the patient from the personal contact with their doctors.
There have been many changes in medical care from the 19th century and the 20th century. There have been many breakthroughs in medicine also so the medical service and medications have improved greatly. Many of the drugs we use today, however, have been found to cause many serious side effects while many of the natural herbal medications used prior to the 20th century are just now being realized as potential health aids. Many people have turned to the all natural health supplements because they are much safer to use and have no side effects. They do not require a prescription because they do not contain any drugs and they are much cheaper than drugs. But best of all, they work.
All Text Copyright © Safety2005.org
| Become a Member |
| Chapter Locations |
| Make a Donation |
| Off the Job Safety |
| Safety + Health Magazine |
| World Congress 2005 |