A Once Charitable Enterprise: Hospitals and Health Care in Brooklyn and New York 1885–1915

by David Rosner

• ISBN13: 9780521528627
• ISBN10: 0521528623
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-03-11
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book examines the changes in hospital care in New York that occurred around the turn of the twentieth century. It represents a fundamental departure from traditional medical history, which has usually emphasised 'progress' through science and technology. Professor Rosner identifies the economic, political and demographic pressures that brought about a reshaping of the health care system, and analyses the dramatic reorganisation of hospitals that took place. He also discusses major scientific advances such as the discovery of anaesthetic properties of ether, nitrous oxide and chloroform, and the consequent increase in surgical solutions to medical problems.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Health care and community change

2. Embattled benefactors: the crisis in hospital financing

3. Social class and hospital care

4. Conflict in the new hospital

5. Taking control: political reform and hospital governance

6. Consolidating control over the small dispensary: the doctors, the city and the state

7. The battle for Morningside Heights: power and politics in the boardroom of New York Hospital

8. Looking backward

Notes on sources

Notes

Select bibliography

Index.