Medical politics in Australia in the 1870s

Molloy, David

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06511.x

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Doctors’ concerns in 2004 look remarkably similar to those they were expressing more than a century ago

Doctors often yearn for the good old times when governments didn’t interfere and economic security was matched by an unfettered freedom to practise their skills, but did these times ever exist? Delving into the Australian Medical Journal (AMJ) from 1870 to 1879 suggests that the medicopolitical issues confronting the profession have changed very little. Medicine today is more sophisticated, but the politics is not and has lost a certain character-forming robustness.

AMA Queensland, Brisbane, QLD.

Correspondence:

Acknowledgements:

I thank Professor John Pearn for his advice and access to his article on Mr Beaney, a leading but controversial surgeon of the time.

1. An amended medical act [editorial]. Aust Med J 1870; 15: 18-19.
2. Sinapis. Ourselves and our patients (2). Aust Med J 1873; 18: 361-370.
3. Special practice [editorial]. Aust Med J 1878; 23: 107-109.
4. Gratuitous medicine [editorial]. Aust Med J 1871; 16: 184-185.
5. Homeopathic ferment [editorial]. Aust Med J 1870; 15: 340-344.
6. Risks of the profession. Aust Med J 1871; 16: 337-342.
7. Sinapis. Ourselves and our patients. Aust Med J 1873; 18: 150-159.
8. Sneaking into the profession [editorial]. Aust Med J 1875; 20: 252-254.
9. American degrees [editorial]. Aust Med J 1875; 20: 281-282.
10. The raid of the quacks [editorial]. Aust Med J 1875; 20: 213-218.
11. General practitioner fees [editorial]. Aust Med J 1876; 21: 140-142.
12. Ex-President’s address to the Medical Society of Victoria. Aust Med J 1878; 23: 8-18.
13. Minutes of a special meeting to establish the proposed Medical Defense Association. Aust Med J 1878; 23: 345-348.
14. Inglis KS. Hospital and community. A history of the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1958.
15. Extortion [editorial]. Aust Med J 1875; 20: 384-385.
16. Wealthy medical men [letter]. Aust Med J 1878; 23: 147-149.
17. Pay — hospitals [editorial]. Aust Med J 1877; 22: 83-85.
18. Resignation of the medical staff at the Sydney Infirmary [news article]. Aust Med J 1878; 23: 141-142.
19. Circulatory prescriptions [editorial]. Aust Med J 1878; 23: 81-82.
20. What is homeopathy? [editorial]. Aust Med J 1877; 22: 2801-2811.
21. Scalpel. A little about quackery [letter]. Aust Med J 1871; 16: 275-278.
22. Illegal practice [editorial]. Aust Med J 1871; 16: 83-85.
23. Skilled juries [editorial]. Aust Med J 1875; 20: 195-196.
24. Comments on general things. Aust Med J 1871; 16: 119.

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Medical politics in Australia in the 1870s

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