Overview

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.

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9781441125460

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Reviews

The fascinating story and explanation Kim Price outlines in Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain is set in the dense and intricate matrix of legal, medical, social and political history. Rich in contemporary parallels, stated and unstated, Professor Price offers a fresh, and much needed perspective on important facets of the Poor Law, medical professionalism and medical negligence in late nineteenth century Britain. Along the way Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain explicitly and implicitly illustrates that both medical error and medical neglect can only be accurately and subtly understood when placed full sociological and political context and not merely viewed as isolated individual events involving single physician-patient dyads. Professor Price's work is assiduously researched using both well know and new resources in inventive and striking ways. His analysis is rigorous yet remains readable without sacrificing nuance. Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain stands not only an important adjuvant to existing Poor Law literature, but its erudite and eclectic scope should serve as a model to those attempting to examine legal and medical developments. Kenneth DeVille, Professor of Bioethics and Chief Institutional Integrity Officer in the Division Health Sciences, East Carolina University, USA

Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain demonstrates for the first time the frequency and regularity with which poor law medical officers were charged with neglect ... [and] provides a nuanced history of [their] attempts to reform medical care. Social History of Medicine Carefully written and skilfully argued ... Price's book is an important intervention in welfare, poor law and medical history ... There is much to learn in this book. Rural History Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain presents a compelling 'anti-progress' study, which shows the ongoing structural and economic problems that fed into neglect and negligence ... [A] valuable contribution ... [and] a thoroughly researched book. The Economic History Review Kim Price has produced a richly detailed study ... Price should be congratulated for bringing this crisis to light with unprecedented rigor, but the novelty of the work also resides in the way it seeks to explain why and how this crisis came about ...[this is] essential reading for all historians and postgraduate students ... it should also be of interest to contemporary health care practitioners. History: Reviews of New Books The history of medical negligence is a subject that has pressing contemporary relevance. Kim Price's Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain is a carefully researched and richly detailed study that will be of interest to historians and practitioners of medicine, ethics, and law. With a focus on the New Poor Law, Price trains a spotlight on the medical mistreatment of some of the most vulnerable members of society, the poorest of the poor. In so doing, he skillfully reinvigorates debates at the intersection of medical and welfare history in a way that invites us to rethink questions of citizenship, patient rights, and the iniquities of health care delivery. Graham Mooney, Assistant Professor of History, Institute of the History of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, USA The fascinating story and explanation Kim Price outlines in Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain is set in the dense and intricate matrix of legal, medical, social and political history. Rich in contemporary parallels, stated and unstated, Professor Price offers a fresh, and much needed perspective on important facets of the Poor Law, medical professionalism and medical negligence in late nineteenth century Britain. Along the way Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain explicitly and implicitly illustrates that both medical error and medical neglect can only be accurately and subtly understood when placed full sociological and political context and not merely viewed as isolated individual events involving single physician-patient dyads. Professor Price's work is assiduously researched using both well know and new resources in inventive and striking ways. His analysis is rigorous yet remains readable without sacrificing nuance. Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain stands not only an important adjuvant to existing Poor Law literature, but its erudite and eclectic scope should serve as a model to those attempting to examine legal and medical developments. Kenneth DeVille, Professor of Bioethics and Chief Institutional Integrity Officer in the Division Health Sciences, East Carolina University, USA This is an excellent, detailed account of what medical negligence under the New Poor Law of 1834 meant theoretically and practically in Victorian Britain. Price draws on socio-legal analysis to show that a surprising number of charges of neglect were made against poor law doctors, contrary to older historiography ... What emerges from this groundbreaking work is that the crusades launched in the later 19th century by official and non-official groups to reform the poor law system actually made conditions much worse for both doctors and patients. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate students, faculty, professionals. -- L. E. Payne, University of Missouri-Kansas City CHOICE

Author Information

Kim Price is a Research Fellow with Northumbria University, UK and an Honorary Visiting Fellow with the Centre for Medical Humanities at the University of Leicester, UK. He has been a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow and the winner of several other research funding awards.

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