American health care in 1754
« previous post | next post »
Recent events have underlined general unhappiness with aspects of the current American health care system, expressed in this recent song by Jesse Welles:
And everyone is aware of current controversies, in America and elsewhere, about immigration.
I found a striking contrast on both issues, in a new biography of Benjamin Franklin, about the events in the middle of 18th century that led to the creation of Pennsylvania Hospital.
For a contemporary account, we can take a look at a document printed (and apparently written) by Benjamin Franklin: Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital; From its first Rise, to the Beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 1754. It starts like this:
About the End of the Year 1750, some Persons, who had frequent Opportunities of observing the Distress of such distemper’d Poor as from Time to Time came to Philadelphia, for the Advice and Assistance of the Physicians and Surgeons of that City; how difficult it was for them to procure suitable Lodgings, and other Conveniences proper for their respective Cases, and how expensive the Providing good and careful Nurses, and other Attendants, for want whereof, many must suffer greatly, and some probably perish, that might otherwise have been restored to Health and Comfort, and become useful to themselves, their Families, and the Publick, for many Years after; and considering moreover, that even the poor Inhabitants of this City, tho’ they had Homes, yet were therein but badly accommodated in Sickness, and could not be so well and so easily taken Care of in their separate Habitations, as they might be in one convenient House, under one Inspection, and in the Hands of skilful Practitioners; and several of the Inhabitants of the Province, who unhappily became disorder’d in their Senses, wander’d about, to the Terror of their Neighbours, there being no Place (except the House of Correction) in which they might be confined, and subjected to proper Management for their Recovery, and that House was by no Means fitted for such Purposes; did charitably consult together, and confer with their Friends and Acquaintances, on the best Means of relieving the Distressed, under those Circumstances; and an Infirmary, or Hospital, in the Manner of several lately established in Great Britain, being proposed, was so generally approved, that there was Reason to expect a considerable Subscription from the Inhabitants of this City, towards the Support of such an Hospital; but the Expence of erecting a Building sufficiently large and commodious for the Purpose, it was thought would be too heavy, unless the Subscription could be made general through the Province, and some Assistance could be obtained from the Assembly; the following Petition was therefore drawn, and presented to the House on the 23d of January, 1750–51.
A bit further along, Franklin writes:
For some Time it was doubtful whether the Bill would not miscarry, many of the Members not readily conceiving the Necessity or Usefulness of the Design; and apprehending moreover, that the Expence of paying Physicians and Surgeons, would eat up the whole of any Fund that could be reasonably expected to be raised; but three of the Profession, viz. Doctors Lloyd Zachary, Thomas Bond, and Phineas Bond, generously offering to attend the Hospital gratis for three Years, and the other Objections being by Degrees got over, the Bill, on the seventh of the same Month, passed the House, Nemine Contradicente, and in May following it received the Governor’s Assent, and was enacted into a Law […]
The account also includes a letter, sent indirectly to Thomas and Richard Penn a bit later in 1751. asking for their help in securing a site for the hospital. In addition to the issues raised with the legislature, this letter mentions immigration:
The Circumstances of this Province have, in a few Years past, been much alter’d, by the Addition of a great Number of Persons who arrive here from several Parts of Europe, many of whom are poor, and settle in remote Parts of the Country, where suitable Provision cannot be made for their Relief from the various Disorders of Body and Mind some of them labour under; the Consideration of which hath lately rais’d in many of the Inhabitants of this City a benevolent Concern, and engaged them to apply for the Assistance of the Legislature, by whom a Law is passed, and some Provision made out of the Provincial Treasury for the Erecting a publick Hospital or Infirmary, under the Direction of a Corporation, by whom we have lately been elected the Managers; but as the publick Funds are not sufficient to answer the Expence of endowing it, a charitable Subscription for that Purpose hath been propos’d and begun with good Success. The Necessity and Advantages of this Institution are so apparent, that Persons of all Ranks unite very heartily in promoting it; and as several of our most eminent Physicians and Surgeons have freely offered their Service for some Years, we have good Grounds to expect that this Undertaking may be of general Service much sooner than was at first expected, and that our Legislature will soon make a further Provision for the Building, which we apprehend it will be prudent to contrive and erect in such Manner, as to admit of such Additions as the future State of the Province may require. The principal Difficulty we now labour under, is the Want of a commodious Lot of Ground in a healthy Situation; for (tho’ we have so great Encouragement as we have mention’d) we cannot flatter ourselves with speedily raising a Sum sufficient to enable us to provide for all other necessary Charges, and to purchase a suitable Piece of Ground so near the built Part of the City, as the constant Attendance of the Physicians, and other Considerations, will necessarily require: We are therefore under the Necessity of laying the State of our Case before our Proprietaries, and we hope the same Motives which have induced others, will have due Weight with them to promote this good Work, and that they will generously direct a Piece of Ground to be alloted for this Service.
You should read the whole publication that these passages were taken from for a more complete account of the history, but this should be enough to establish the vivid contrast with the attitudes of (many of) those in control of the current situation.
As for the linguistic angle, if you need one, maybe it's the obvious stylistic change in sentence length?
David L said,
January 2, 2025 @ 1:23 pm
On another linguistic note, I observe that our President-to-be-again has Evidently derived his Penchant for seemingly random Capitalization from close scrutiny of the much-admired Writings of our Founding Fathers.
Andrew Usher said,
January 2, 2025 @ 7:47 pm
Franklin is actually entirely consistent here in capitalising all and only nouns, though I admit you could surely find others that differed, I don't think it was ever truly random; likely neither is Trump's.
The post writes "the vivid contrast with the attitudes of (many of) those in control of the current situation" but I think that rather charitable in assuming that anyone is in control. Of course a less literal reading of 'control' would give the message I assume was intended, but if those 'in control' were actually willing to take control more often, problems like this could be mostly solved in some way.
k_over_hbarc at yahoo dot com
Julian said,
January 3, 2025 @ 3:53 pm
Clearly commas were cheaper, in those days.