Acknowledgments
"What Are His Chances, Doctor?" The Semantics of Incurability in the
Nineteenth Century
Reinventing Hope in the Late Nineteenth Century
"I Told You So"
Death, Decay, and the Genesis of Shame
Medical Attitudes toward the Care of Incurables
Medical Strategies, Social Conventions, and Palliative Medicine
Ecce Homo
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Fate of the Incurably Ill between the Two Revolutions, 1789-1848
Caught between Initiative and Inertia
Conclusion
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
Subtitle: Chronic Disease and
Slow Death in Nineteenth-Century France Author:
Jason Szabo Subject:Medicine,
Public
Health,History Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8135-4545-5 Pages:
312 pages Publication Date: June 2009
Praise for Incurable and Intolerable
"In this original and
engaging book, Jason Szabo explores a historical topic with great
contemporary relevance--the encounter of physicians, patients, and
social institutions with chronic and incurable disease."—Harry M. Marks,
Institute of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
"Incurable and Intolerable is
a tremendously original work that trains a skilled historian's eye on a
timeless dilemma: how patient and practitioner confront the limits of
the healing arts and the end of hope."—David S. Barnes,
author of The Making of a Social Disease:
Tuberculosis in Nineteenth-Century France
"A vivid, meticulous history of medical,
religious, and political responses to incurable illness in 19th-century
France. This is a first-rate snapshot of illness and medicine in a
particular location and time frame and it raises timeless questions
concerning medicine, healing, and responsibility. Highly recommended."—Choice, April 2010 Description:
Terminal illness and the pain and anguish
it brings are experiences that have touched millions of people in the
past and continue to shape our experience of the present. Hospital
machines that artificially support life and monitor vital signs beg the
question: Is there not anything that medical science can offer as
solace?
Incurable and
Intolerable looks at the history of incurable illness from a
variety of perspectives, including those of doctors, patients,
families, religious counsel, and policy makers. This compellingly
documented and well-written history illuminates the physical,
emotional, social, and existential consequences of chronic disease and
terminal illness, and offers an original look at the world of
palliative medicine, politics, religion, and charity. Revealing the
ways in which history can shed new light on contemporary thinking,
Jason Szabo encourages a more careful scrutiny of today’s attitudes,
policies, and practices surrounding “imminent death” and its effects on
society. About the Author:
JASON SZABO is a medical doctor and
historian involved in AIDS care and clinical research at
Montréal General Hospital. He has pursued postgraduate studies
in history at McGill University and a postdoctoral fellowship at
Harvard UniversityReceive
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