Description
"For a couple of years in this period, there was a true physician in Præstø as Jens Kofod practised here from 1792 until 1794 when he became a medical officer of health and Præstø had to be content with a surgeon as before.". This quote is taken from one of the principal works of the Danish history of medicine, published in 1873 by physician and medicine historian J V C Ingerslev, and it constitutes the starting point of Birgitte Rørbye's study of how the Danish medical profession of physicians through a couple of centuries have been able to construct an authoritative narrative of themselves as the 'true physicians' of the Danish public health service. By means of a narrative cultural study of writings on the history of medicine and other historical sources, Birgitte Rørbye uncovers the narrative of the 'true physicians' which has resulted in the exclusion of other occupational groups and schemes of things from the official and approved public health system on account of being 'alternative'. What is meant by the term 'true physician'? Is it a valid term with regards to varying times and societies? What was a 'true physician' in the years 1494, 1594, 1694, 1794, 1894, 1994? The answer depends both on the story and on who tells it. Birgitte Rørbye's new and different story caters for physicians, historians, cultural scholars and others interested in the history of medicine.
