Abstract
Pediatrics is so thoroughly integrated into contemporary culture that it is hard to believe it only emerged as a medical specialty in the late nineteenth century. Until the eighteenth century, it was simply the women’s task to attend to childbirth and to the care of young children. When women needed tha advice of an expert, they turned to the midwife for help. Perhaps, then, we ought to discuss the nurse, midwife and mother as paradigmatic pediatric professionals. But if we may be forgiven for limiting our field, we will consider the pediatrician as a representative for a number of pediatric health care specialties: nurses, social workers, and therapists. In this final section, then, we examine the growth of the specialty of pediatrics and inquire what special qualities may be important in taking care of the children.
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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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(1989). Introduction. In: Kopelman, L.M., Moskop, J.C. (eds) Children And Health Care. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 33. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27406-5_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27406-5_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-55608-078-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-585-27406-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive