Incurable and Intolerable
310 pages, 6 x 9
2 illustrations
Hardcover
Release Date:08 May 2009
ISBN:9780813545455
Incurable and Intolerable
Chronic Disease and Slow Death in Nineteenth-Century France
By Jason Szabo
Rutgers University Press
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.
In this original and engaging book, Jason Szabo explores a historical topic with great contemporary relevance--the encounter of physicians, patients, andsocial institutions with chronic and incurable disease.
JASON SZABO is a medical doctor and historian involved in AIDS care and clinical research at MontrTal General Hospital. He has pursued postgraduate studies in history at McGill University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
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
"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
