Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain: The Crisis of Care under the English Poor Law, c. 1834–1900

Description

Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain is the first detailed exploration of the hundreds of charges of neglect against doctors who were contracted to the ‘new’ poor law after the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. The author moves beyond the hyperbole of Victorian public ‘scandal’ to use medical negligence as a prism through which to view hidden aspects of poor law doctors and their patients. This provides a uniquely grounded perspective, from the day-to-day experience of medical practice – for both doctor and patient – to the context of the medico-political, socio-legal and cultural processes that underpinned the social construction of negligence at this time. The result is a clearly enunciated description of what negligence meant to the Victorians and how they sought to define and deal with negligent care, moving the topic from the sidelines of English welfare history to the centre-stage role it played in Victorian society. Thematically and chronologically arranged in two parts, the book uses extensive new archival material with a particular focus on the official inquiries into neglect conducted by poor law inspectors. It offers a fresh perspective on the poor laws that has repercussions for wider histories of welfare, medicine and legal medicine. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: The Nuances of Neglect under the New Poor Law The legal inheritance The context of medical provision under the new poor law Part One 2. Victorian ‘State Doctors’: Medical Officers of the New Poor Law Background Public ambivalence Professionalization: The ‘great experiment’ A union of medical officers ‘Rather gentlemanly pay this’ Competition: The economics of poor law medicine 3. Negligence: The ‘Psychological Moment’ Background Publicity and negligence The Andover precedent, 1845–1847 The Lancet Commission, 1865–1866 The zenith of reform Post-1867: ‘A disastrous and ludicrous failure’ 4. Controversies: The Poor Law of Negligence Background The inspectorate Regional inspectors Law and ethics for a doctor and medical officer The ‘mockery of so-called Poor Law inquiries’ Part Two 5. A Latent Failure: The Crusade against Outdoor Relief Background Fertile ground An inspector calls: The Longley Strategy Subordinating medicine 6. Survival of the Fittest: Indoor Neglect Background The workhouse funnel Pauper nursing Newton Abbott and the BMJ campaign against pauper nursing The starvation of Edward Cooper in the Isle of Wight workhouse ‘He was not an idiot’: Disability and care in the community ‘He was a perfect idiot’: Disability and the workhouse system 7. A Catch-22 Background Denial, local resolution and sustained latent failures Dilemmas: To be there or not to be there Assistants: Negotiating the double bind 8. Conclusion: The Patients’ Voice – Seen but Not Heard? Looking back A Janus-faced view Notes Select Bibliography Index