Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain

Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain is the first detailed exploration of the hundreds of charges of neglect against doctors who were contracted to the 'new' poor law after the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. The author moves beyond the hyperbole of Victorian public 'scandal' to use medical negligence as a prism through which to view hidden aspects of poor law doctors and their patients. This offers a uniquely grounded perspective, from the day-to-day experience of medical practice - for both doctor and patient - to the context of the medico-political, socio-legal and cultural processes that underpinned the social construction of negligence at this time. The administration of medical care reveals latent failures that were intricately woven into the duties of a medical officer and underscored by the law that governed his workload; however, medical negligence was also a motor for change and a means for permanent officials of the poor law to instil policy in an otherwise contested landscape of localised poor law politics. This book offers a clearly enunciated description of what negligence meant to the Victorians and how they sought to define and deal with negligent care, moving the topic from the sidelines of English welfare history to the centre-stage role it played in Victorian society. Thematically and chronologically arranged in two parts, this important book uses extensive new archive material with a particular focus on the official inquiries into neglect conducted by poor law inspectors. The result is a fresh perspective on the poor laws that has repercussions for wider histories of welfare, medicine and legal medicine.