Bargaining for Life : A Social History of Tuberculosis, 1876-1938

In __Bargaining for Life__, Barbara Bates documents the human story of tuberculosis by chronicling how men and women attempted to cope with the illness, get treatment, earn their living, and maintain social relationships. In __Bargaining for Life__, Barbara Bates documents the human story of tuberculosis by chronicling how men and women attempted to cope with the illness, get treatment, earn their living, and maintain social relationships. Tuberculosis was the most common cause of death in the nineteenth century. The lingering illness devastated the lives of patients and families, and by the turn of the century, fears of infectiousness compounded their anguish. Historians have usually focused on the changing medical knowledge of tuberculosis or on the social campaign to combat it. In Bargaining for Life, Barbara Bates documents the human story. Using a wide range of sources, especially the extensive correspondence of a Philadelphia physician, Lawrence F. Flick, Bates portrays the lives of tuberculous men and women as they tried to cope with the illness, get treatment, earn their living, and maintain their social relationships. Their caretakers, including relatives, clergy, physicians, and nurses, all had their own reasons for providing help. In ways that differed with class, race, gender, and sometimes political influence, sanatoriums, hospitals, and visiting nurse societies mediated various bargains between the sick and their caretakers. Bates concludes that the campaign to control and cure tuberculosis had little impact on the disease, but it offered care, assuaged fears of infection, and expanded the welfare system. Choices made by the sick helped to shape the institutions and affected the results of the campaign. Many of the bargains between patients and caretakers are still discernible in the U.S. health care system. Bates has written an extraordinarily insightful book that combines social history, medical history, and nursing history. It will interest scholars, students, health professionals, and general readers who care about and care for chronically ill people Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. Tuberculosis and the Beginnings of Change, 1876-1903 1. Doctor Flick and Tuberculosis 2. The Quest and the Treatment 3. Helping Poor Consumptives 4. Life as a Patient 5. A Camp in the Mountains: The Beginnings of the White Haven Sanatorium Part II. New Systems of Care, 1903—1917 6. Research, Training, and Patient Care: The Henry Phipps Institute 7. Achievement and Disappointment at the Institute 8. Expansion at White Haven 9. Economy, Charity, and the State 10. The Private Sanatoriums 11. Attention, Care, and Doctor's Orders: Tuberculosis Nursing 12. The Final Years of George E. Macklin 13. Into the Homes, Minds, and Lives of the Poor: Visiting Nurses 14. Persuasion, Choice, and Circumstance Part III. Adjustments and Compromise, 1914—1938 15. Waiting Lists and Empty Beds 16. "P.S. I Am ... Colored" Part IV. A Retrospective View 17. The Decline of Tuberculosis 18. Conclusions and Epilogue Notes Bibliography of Selected Secondary Sources Index

Tuberculosis was the most common cause of death in the United States during the nineteenth century. The lingering illness devastated the lives of patients and families, and by the turn of the century, fears of infectiousness compounded their anguish. Historians have usually focused on the changing medical knowledge of tuberculosis or on the social campaigns to combat it.Using a wide range of sources, especially the extensive correspondence of a Philadelphia physician, Lawrence F. Flick, in Bargaining for Life Barbara Bates documents the human story by chronicling how men and women attempted to cope with the illness, get treatment, earn their living, and maintain social relationships.

Tuberculosis was the most common cause of death in the United States during the nineteenth century. The lingering illness devastated the lives of patients and families, and by the turn of the century, fears of infectiousness compounded their anguish. Historians have usually focused on the changing medical knowledge of tuberculosis or on the social campaigns to combat it. Using a wide range of sources, especially the extensive correspondence of a Philadelphia physician, Lawrence F. Flick, in Bargaining for Life Barbara Bates documents the human story by chronicling how men and women attempted to cope with the illness, get treatment, earn their living, and maintain social relationships.