Abstracts fra Bibliotek for Læger 2/2012

Orignalartikel: Allinge Sygehus
Elsebeth Maegaard

 

Allinge Hospital. A tale of a hospital that once was.

Bibl Læger 2012;204:112-43.

 

The article offers a history of Allinge Hospital on the island of Bornholm, the easternmost part of Denmark. The Hospital was established in 1910 and its staff treated a vast variety of medical and surgical conditions. In 1974, somatic diseases were no longer treated at the hospital, and subsequently it served as a psychiatric nursing home for a number of years. In 2000, the buildings were finally demolished. Using archives and oral history from key witnesses as sources, a long-lost époque of rural Danish medicine is revisited. 

 
Et billede fra min hverdag
Jesper Lekdorf

 
Originalartikel: Børneulykker I ældre tider
Jens Steensberg

 

Child accidents in earlier times

Bibl Læger 2012;204:146-67.

 

The article gives an impression of children’s lives, their accidents, and preventive measures taken in the Middle Ages and more recent times until approximately 1900. Coroners’ reports from medieval England provide vivid depictions of the lives of children and the risks of accidents. Similar sources do not exist in Denmark, but the situation in our agricultural society was most likely comparable. In the Nordic countries, however, written biographies of potential saints contain several detailed accounts of the circumstances of child accidents. Cases of overlying of babies were not uncommon and were judged and sanctioned by the church. It was not until around 1800 that Danish physicians were obliged to forward annual reports to central health authorities regarding the health situation in their districts. These reports contain many descriptions of child accidents, but they do not allow quantitative estimates, e.g. in relation to population size. Reliable statistics on accidental deaths are not available until the late 19th century. During the 19th century, children began to work at an early age in order to supplement their family’s income. Around 1870 an increasing focus on child labour prompted relevant legislation. Finally, gymnastics was introduced in the Danish school system around the year 1800, and teachers were systematically trained to prevent injuries due to exercises.

 
Kvartalets genstand
Morten A. Skydsgaard

 
Originalartikel: Naturlighed, barnets tarv og kompensationsberettigelse i den politiske debat om kunstig befrugtning
Lasse Nielsen

 

Naturalness, the interest of the child, and compensation entitlement in the political debate on fertility treatment

Bibl Læger 2012;204:170-97.

This article provides a normative discussion of the political debate on publicly funded fertility treatment in Denmark. It demonstrates that especially three normative considerations attracted attention in the debate. In the early part of the debate (1996) many Danish politicians emphasized the moral importance of naturalness, suggesting that fertility treatment procedures should be kept as close to natural fertilization as possible. Further, the interest of the child was highly weighed. The article argues that due to conceptual and normative problems, we should not take the idea of naturalness into account in political debates, and due to Derek Parfit’s non-identity problem the interest of the child is irrelevant to such political debates. 

In the late part of the debate (2010) the question of whether infertility entails compensation entitlement becomes crucial. Drawing on insights of political philosophy, the article suggests two moral principles, the functioning-based and the responsibility-sensitivity principle which independently as well as together support the conclusion that people suffering the disadvantage of being infertile are in fact entitled to publicly funded compensation. The article concludes that it is morally unacceptable to deny infertile persons the possibility of fertility treatment. 

 
Interview med Niklas Thode Jensen: For the health of the enslaved
Redaktionen