The Sorokdo National Hospital of South Korea
Lucy Eum New Brunswick, Canada The wooden operating table used for vasectomies and sterilizations. Photo by Lucy Eum. 2012. Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, has historically been a highly stigmatized condition.1 For centuries it was thought to be a curse, a punishment for sin, or a hereditary disease.2 It was not until 1873 […]
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the legacy of Long John Silver
George Venters Scotland The “Old Surgical Hospital” as it is today. Courtesy of Dr. Iain MacIntyre. Faced with the danger of having his right foot amputated in 1873, the real “Long John Silver,” the English poet William E. Henley, turned for help to Joseph Lister and became a patient in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. […]
The Metropolitan Hospital of London
Metropolitan Free Hospital. Photo by Ethan Doyle White. Via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0 Metropolitan Hospital, Kingsland Road. Photo by Dr Neil Clifton. Via Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 2.0. The Metropolitan Hospital was founded in 1836 to provide medical care to the indigent of London’s East End, with two physicians and three surgeons offering their services […]
The Imperial Asylum at Vincennes
On March 8, 1855, Napoleon III of France announced the creation of the Imperial Asylum at Vincennes. It opened in 1857 and was intended to be a place where workers could receive care comparable to military veterans—particularly significant as construction and factory jobs had become more important and more dangerous. The Emperor subsidized the early […]
Children at play in the East London Hospital for Children
The first hospital for children in London was established with ten beds in 1866 during a terrible cholera epidemic. It relied entirely on charity, was enlarged in 1875 and subsequently expanded, merged, and incorporated into larger facilities until it was closed after the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948. At the time it […]
Sydney clinic
In the Australian state of New South Wales, a system of medical inspection of schoolchildren was organized in 1913 and arrangements were made to examine each child at least twice during their periods of school attendance, which was compulsory between the ages of seven and fourteen years. The inspections were conducted by a staff of […]
Maria Lorenza Longo and the birth of the “Incurabili” Hospital in Naples
Marco Luchetti Milano, Italy Maria Lorenza Longo. Source In the Middle Ages hospitals were charitable institutions that took care of those that could not afford a doctor at home, such as the poor, elderly, orphans, and single mothers. In Naples there was an urgent need for a large facility with many doctors where “incurable” […]
Santa Maria Nuova: curing and caring
Michael Mortellaro Florida, USA Replica of “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.” Originally by Rembrandt. Re-painted by Navid Eghbalieh, MD. The concept of a hospital for sick people first emerged in the western world in late medieval Italy. A prime example of this was the Florentine hospital Santa Maria Nuova, which the humanist […]
Qatar’s Sidra Hospital and Damien Hirst’s Miraculous Journey
Sally Metzler Chicago, IL, USA Amazing, inspiring art and architecture seem to appear almost daily in Doha, Qatar, the host city of the 2024 World Cup. The Sidra Hospital for women and children soars among the many shining examples of architecture throughout this small Middle Eastern Gulf country. The building is graceful and sleek. Interior […]
The founding of Rush Medical College
Joseph deBettencourt Chicago, Illinois, USA Act I: Dr. Daniel Brainard Figure 1. Cover of Brainard’s introductory lecture given at the first day of class, December 4, 1843 Beneath the impressive shadow of Notre Dame, a young American cut a path through the winding cobblestone maze of the Île de la Cité to the doors […]