Medical Malpractice

A CONTEMPORARY ASSESSMENT OF 14TH CENTURY MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS

John of Arderne was an English surgeon who lived in the 14th Century.  His remedies were considered substantial for the time. He is known to have charged heftily for rich men but poor would be treated free of charge. In, “THE ENGLISH: A Social History 1066 – 1945″ (Paladin, 1987, p 151), Christopher Hibbert says that according to Johannes Mirfield (who worked at St Bartholomew’s Hospital (in London) in the 14th Century):

 “… very few doctors lived up to John of Arderne’s ideals. They were in fact, mostly ‘ignorant amateurs’ or what Johannes considered ‘worse and more horrible’, ‘worthless and presumptuous’ women.”

 In any case, whichever their sex they made:

 “…the greatest possible mistakes (thanks to their stupidity) and very often killed their patients; for they worked without wisdom … in a casual fashion [unacquainted with] the causes or even the names of the maladies which they claimed to be able to cure …”

Hibbert also says that Johannes Mirfield continued as follows:

 “Modern physicians [that is, those in the 14th Century] appear to possess three special qualifications namely, to be able to lie in a subtle manner, to show an outward honesty and to kill with audacity.” (quoted by Hibbert from Horton-Smith, “Johannes de Mirfield of St Bartholomew’s”, p 79-80).

Fortunately we do not live in the 14th Century. Although mistakes can occur in medical practice – as they can in any profession, trade or job – we are also fortunate to live in a society with highly trained, skilled and dedicated doctors, health providers and medical administrators.