Twentieth-Century Healthcare, Part I
by Prof. Hangen - April 2nd, 2013
Over the next few weeks we’ll be exploring aspects of health care in the twentieth century: the post-Flexner, vaccine-and-antibiotic era in which a gigantic industry of health care began to flourish – and during which the medical profession’s opposition to centralized health care emerged with a vengeance.
For Wednesday, April 3rd – your Disease Report papers are due, but also: please bring Rutkow’s book and be ready to talk about chapters 8 and 9.
Relevant links:
A (hilariously campy) British government 1964 film looking back on the 1940s discovery of penicillin
See Jack Gibbon’s heart-lung machine in action (BBC Four)
Hear Ronald Reagan in his 10 minute LP recording from the AMA’s “Operation Coffee Cup” 1961 lobbying effort (never mind the images, just listen to the recording)
Listen to the 1948 “Truth or Consequences” episode introducing the original “Jimmy” of the Jimmy Fund
Next week we’ll read a short, but gripping, historical and medical detective book delving into the abandoned suitcases of inmates (is that the right word?) at a big New York mental hospital in the 1920s-1950s. I think you’ll really enjoy reading it and considering its thought-provoking depiction of care for the mentally ill. Read chapters 1-6 of The Lives They Left Behind for Monday, April 8th and Chapters 7-Epilogue for Wednesday, April 10th. I’ll then hand out a prompt for the third response paper, due on Wed 4/17.
