[The opening of the first real sick-hospital in Copenhagen: Kommunehospitalet].
On the 19th, September 1863 the first real sick-hospital, Kommunehospitalet, opened in Copenhagen. This paper contains aspects of the temporary results and reflections from a interdisciplinary investigation between a pharmacist, a doctor and a ethnologist of the conditions at the opening the hospital. The investigation is based on the case records of the 89 patients who were recorded as admitted to the hospital on the opening day. The case records contain information not only of the diagnosis and treatments but offer the possibility to elucidate aspects of every day life both inside and outside the hospital, especially among the working-class and the poor who constitute the majority of the patients. Among the elucidated aspects is, that the patients are placed in the common ward as much according to their social status as to the diagnosis. Most of the admitted patients suffered from veneral diseases even though this category of patients had caused serious hesitation regarding the damage they could make to the reputation of and wish to create a new image for the hospital.
Christensen
J G
JG
D003718:Denmark; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000266:history*; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000266:history*