The role of recovering physicians in 19th century addiction medicine: an organizational case study.
An elaborate network of inebriate homes, inebriate asylums, nationally franchised private addiction treatment institutes, and proprietary home cures for addiction arose on the American landscape between 1850 and 1900. The pinnacle of the movement to professionalize America's first addiction treatment field was the founding of the American Association for the Cure of Inebriety in 1870 and its publication of the first issue of the Journal of Inebriety in 1876. One of the most contentious issues among the various branches of this new professional field was the question of the use of "reformed men" as physicians, managers and attendants within treatment institutions. This article describes the employment of recovering physicians within one 19th century addiction treatment franchise--the Keeley Institutes--and documents the nature of the professional debate stirred by what was then a controversial practice.
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Lighthouse Institute/Chestnut Health Systems, Bloomington, IL 61701, USA.
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D010815:Physician Impairment; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000266:history*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000266:history* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D013695:Temperance / Q000266:history; D014481:United States