title: [Surgery in letters. The example of Lorenz Heister's epistolary consultation].
abstract: The consultation letters of Lorenz Heister enable a specific patient-focused analysis. Heister was not only a famous physician of the early German Enlightenment, but a renowned surgeon as well. His double expertise gives his correspondence a unique character. The consultation letters addressed to him testify not only the well known phenomenon of "medicine-by-post", but also the less well known practice of "surgery-by-post". They allow us some insight into the different sensations and strategies of people who suffered from a malady which could call for surgical treatment. Patients' letters enable historians to compare the expression of fears, hopes and actions with those of their fellow-patients who sought in Heister not the surgeon, but the physician. Such a comparative approach suggests a series of issues, of which two are discussed here: representations of the patient's history of suffering (Patientenweg, and representations of the patient's body (Patientenkörper).
authors: Marion Maria
authors: MM
authors: Ruisinger
mesh_terms: D015709:Correspondence as Topic / Q000266:history*; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049671:History, 18th Century; D006801:Humans; D010361:Patients / Q000266:history; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000266:history*