Women and Healing/penetentiaries & asylums/important personalities Flashcards
Why were “women central to health and healing before 1800”?
they were there when life was brought to this world (midwifery) and when life left, preparing the corpse for burial.
who turned man-midwifery into obstetrics? How?
- The Chamberlin brothers
- The invention of forceps. (went around the baby’s head and pulled the child out)
- women were forbidden to use this tool
How did men edge women out of midwifery?
as painkillers were developed, women were prevented from administering them. They were at risk from losing their license otherwise.
Who was the woman hero who blew the whistle on Thalidomide in the 1940’s and helped to ban it? why was Thalidomide so bad?
VIRGINIA APGAR
-it was a pregnancy sedative, and it caused horrific birth defects
what was the legal importance of midwifes?
- documenting paternity (finding the father was important, because otherwise the state would have to pick up the bill)
- deathbed/childbed testimony (often the truth comes out when a person is in a ton of pain/nearing death. no concern for protecting anyone else)
- proof that the woman was pregnant (rape, seduction, execution, hard labor)
Watchers
women who watched the dead. paid for them to say at home with the ailing person, would prepare the body for the funeral after the fact.
Searchers
inspect bodies of sick and dead for signs of the plague.. normally the elderly
wetnurse
aristocratic/rich would send their children out to the country for weaning and the other would not see their kid for 1yr or more
Elizabeth Charlotte (liselotte van der Pfalz)
- Duchess of Orleans
- married into Louis XIV’s house.
- acute interest in medicine/healing, used her connections well and documented her life long treatments through pen-pal letters back home.
- came from an inquisitive and supportive family
- Diseases were still related to HUMORS so you saw some parallels here.
what were some of Elizabeth Charlotte’s philosophies?
if she did not dwell on sad thoughts then nature would evacuate the sadness.
- when I get sad I get sick. moods affect your health.
- she believed in contagion, and was convinced that doctors were not.
- not a fan of inoculation but was whole-heartedly behind quarantine.
- she preferred to breastfeed instead of a wetnurse
- did not approve of seasonal bleedings, and never bled.
- the bleeding of menstruation was healing and swept away bad humors
Baron J.D. Larrey (1766-1842) pre-newfoundland + trip
- surgeon to Napoleon’s army
- educated under a monk
- at thirteen did an apprenticeship in Toulouse, got great experience
- at 21 did the tour of the universities
- visited the hometowns of every great doctor/surgeon that he heard of
- at 21 passed the boards and set sail for Newfoundland to protect their claim on the cod fishery, spent time in the galley with the slaves.
- on the ship proposed hammocks for sea sickness, bandage the ears.
Baron J.D. Larrey - arrival in newfoundland
- grew a garden for herbs for scurvy
- used native tools/remedies to help with his crew
- developed tactics to help fight mosquitos and bugs of the new world
- no one died from preventable issues on the return journey home, which was a great success.
what is Baron J.D. Larrey’s major claims to fame?
- he invented the ambulance. This was during his time in the army. wanted to cut down on the time that it took for the soldier to get to the hospital.
- invented surgical needles
- tried to figure out how muscles worked on very recently amputated limbs.
- he stated that injury took precedence over rank which had tremendous morale for the army.
What was the 19th century asylum movement all about?
a theory that criminals and mentally disturbed could be rehabilitated.
-*peasants background could result in insanity/deviant behaviour.
asylum and penitentiaries
a place for penance. religious aspects, repent your sins.
after time with proper penance and rehab you could be cured, therefore released
» therapeutic
