Isaac Ray, malpractice defendant.
Isaac Ray (1807-1881), founder of American forensic psychiatry, produced his classic Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity in 1838. He did not begin to practice asylum medicine, however, until 1841, when he became superintendent of the Maine Insane Hospital in Augusta. There, he treated a patient, Isaac Hunt, who later sued him for malpractice and then self-published a book, Astounding Disclosures! Three Years in a Mad House, detailing alleged abuses suffered at the doctor's hands. This article recalls the incident and tracks Ray's reactions to it, the public's perception of asylums, and the tension between paternalistic asylum medicine and an emerging consumer-rights movement.
Two Bala Plaza, Suite 300, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-1512. kenweiss@mail.med.upenn.edu.
Kenneth J
KJ
Weiss
D003068:Coercion; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D008281:Maine; D008297:Male; D008318:Malpractice / Q000266:history*; D008374:Manuscripts, Medical as Topic / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States