Abstract
Etymologically, ‘patients’ are simply those who suffer or endure something. In common usage, they are those who suffer or experience some perceived ill or dysfunction or injury that causes them to seek help, succor, or relief. It is only when help, succor, or relief is sought and the sufferers enter into a relationship with those whose aid they have requested that they can properly be called ‘patients’, for the term suggests those who are in a state of need vis-a-vis others who are in a position to render assistance addressed to that need. The word ‘patient’ is not properly applied to one who has a perceived need in the realm of ill or dysfunction or injury until one enters into a relationship with another to whom one turns for aid. Until then one can only be described as a potential ‘patient’ by virtue of one’s need. Nevertheless one can properly be termed a ‘patient’, even though one suffers or endures nothing for which aid is sought, if one places oneself in a relationship with another who seeks to determine whether an unperceived need exists or who gives advice or assistance that is prophylactic of some potential ill or dysfunction. By convention, the need, whether real, imaginary, or potential, must be physical or (at least in more recent times) psychological, although the term ‘patient’ may be applied metaphorically to one experiencing a need other than physical or psychological. In the latter sense the one to whom one turns for aid may also metaphorically be called one’s ‘doctor’, ‘physician’, ‘surgeon’, or, perhaps, ‘therapist’.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Ackerknecht, E. H.: 1942, ‘Problems of Primitive Medicine’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 11, 503–521.
Ackerknecht, E. H.: 1943, ‘Psychopathology, Primitive Medicine, and Primitive Culture’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 14, 30–67.
Amundsen, D. W.: 1981, ‘Casuistry and Professional Obligations: The Regulation of Physicians by the Court of Conscience in the Late Middle Ages’, Transactions and Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia N. S. 3, 29–39 and 93–112.
Amundsen, D. W.: 1978, ‘History of Medical Ethics: Ancient Near East’, in W. T. Reich (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Bioethics, Vol. 2, The Free Press, New York, pp. 880–884.
Amundsen, D. W.: 1977, ‘Images of Physicians in Classical Times’, Journal of Popular Culture 11, 642–655.
Amundsen, D. W.: 1977, ‘Medical Deontology and Pestilential Disease in the Late Middle Ages’, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 32, 403–421.
Amundsen, D. W.: 1978, ‘The Physician’s Obligation to Prolong Life: A Medical Duty without Classical Roots’, Hastings Center Report 8 (August), 23–30.
Amundsen, D. W. and Ferngren, G. B.: 1982, ‘Philanthropy in Medicine: Some Historical Perspectives’, in E. E. Shelp (ed.), Beneficence and Health Care, D. Reidel Pub. Co., Dordrecht, Holland, pp. 1–31.
Biggs, R.: 1969, ‘Medicine in Ancient Mesopotamia’, History of Science 8, 94–105.
Brandenburg, D.: 1972, ‘Avesta und Medizin: Ein literaturgeschichtlicher Beitrag zur Heilkunde im alten Persien’, Janus 59, 269–307.
Crook, J.: 1967, Law and Life of Rome, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
Dawe, V. G.: 1955, The Attitude of the Ancient Church Toward Sickness and Health unpublished doctoral dissertation, Boston University School of Theology.
Durant, W.: 1953, The Story of Civilization, Vol. 5, Simon and Schuster, New York.
Edelstein, E. J. and Edelstein, L.: 1945, Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Vol. 2, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.
Edelstein, L.: 1967, Ancient Medicine: Selected Papers of Ludwig Edelstein, O. Temkin and C. L. Temkin (eds.), The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.
Frost, E.: 1949, Christian Healing, Mowbray, London.
Getty, M. M.: 1931, The Life of the North Africans as Revealed in the Sermons of Saint Augustine, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D. C.
Ghalioungui, P.: 1963, Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt, Hodder and S tough ton, London.
Glotz, G.: 1967, Ancient Greece at Work, translated by M. R. Dobie, W. W. Norton and Co., New York.
Hammond, E. A.: 1960, ‘Incomes of Medieval English Doctors’, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 15, 154–169.
Hands, A. R.: 1968, Charities and Social Aid in Greece and Rome, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
Kelsey, M. T.: 1973, Healing and Christianity in Ancient Thought and Modern Times, Harper and Row, New York.
Kibre, P.: 1953, ‘The Faculty of Medicine at Paris, Charlatanism and Unlicensed Medical Practice in the Later Middle Ages’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 27, 1–20.
Kudlien, F.: 1976, ‘Medicine as a “Liberal Art” and the Question of the Physician’s Income’, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 31, 448–459.
Lain Entralgo, P.: 1969, Doctor and Patient, translated by F. Partridge, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Marrou, H. I.: 1964, A History of Education in Antiquity, translated by G. Lamb, New American Library, New York.
Middleton, J. (ed.): 1967, Magic, Witchcraft, and Curing, Natural History Press, Garden City.
Mosse, C.: 1969, The Ancient World at Work, translated by Janet Lloyd, W. W. Norton and Co., New York.
Owst, G. R.: 1961, Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England, Blackwell, Oxford.
Ritter, E. K.: 1965, ‘Magical Expert (-Asipu) and Physician (=Asu): Notes on Two Complementary Professions in Babylonian Medicine’, Studies in Honor of Benno Landsberger on His Seventy-Fifth Birthday, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 299 - 321.
Rivers, W. H. R.: 1924, Medicine, Magic, and Religion, Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York.
Sigerist, H.: 1943, Civilization and Disease, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Sigerist, H.: 1951, 1961, A History of Medicine, Vols. 1 and 2, Oxford University Press, New York.
Temkin, O.: 1977, The Double Face of Janus and Other Essays in the History of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.
Thompson, S.: 1955–1958, Motif-Index of Folk Literature University of Indiana Press, Bloomington.
Welborn, M. C.: 1938, ‘The Long Tradition: A Study in Fourteenth-Century Medical Deontology’, in J. Cate and E. Anderson (eds.), Medieval and Historiographical Essays in Honor of James West fall Thompson, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 344–357.
Westermann, W. L.: 1955, The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity, The American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.
Wilson, J. A.: 1962, ‘Medicine in Ancient Egypt’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 36, 114–123.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Amundsen, D.W., Ferngren, G.B. (1983). Evolution of the Patient-Physician Relationship: Antiquity Through the Renaissance. In: Shelp, E.E. (eds) The Clinical Encounter. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7148-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7148-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-009-7150-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7148-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive