The doctor and his patients: the intergenerational dispute concerning the ideal physician, the Czech Lands 1840s-1890s

Abstract

In the second half of the 19th century, the professionalization of the medical field took place in the Czech Lands, then part of Austria-Hungary. The physicians’ aim was to eliminate their rivals, such as charlatans, folk healers, and other alternative healers, but they also strove to regulate competition among colleagues. In this period, which can be described as a period of therapeutic nihilism, a new generation of physicians emerged in the Czech Lands who tried to promote and apply new medical knowledge to everyday practice in the medical market. In practice, however, it was very hard for this innovative group of young medics to defend their scientific approach and their professional honor from the demands of patients, on whose monetary reward they and their families depended. The article argues that there was a dispute between the older and younger generations of physicians over the ideal of the physician and his honor. This hypothesis is based on a discursive analysis of medical manuals for laymen penned mostly by physicians, so-called «house physicians», and of articles in professional journals published by local physicians in the Czech language. The conflict is illustrated by examples of bloodletting and drug prescriptions.