alternatehistory.com

Man is mortal. Things have always gone wrong with the human body and there have always been people who made a living trying to fix it.

The development of the scientific method brought with it a systematic approach to understanding disease and dysfunction, and the use of evidence in discerning best medical practice.

But outside of this core dynamic, many of the structures and traditions of health care seem to me arbitrary to some extent, and were medical history to be replayed I feel there are elements that could be quite radically different.

I'll give you some examples:

- Generalism amongst medical doctors: As far as I'm aware, in every country in the world trainee doctors are required to gain a broad knowledge and understanding of disease and dysfunction. However when doctors go on to specialise much of this knowledge will never be used again; a proctologist has very little need to understand neurobiology.

In an ATL might we see a divergence from the tradition of equipping all medical doctors to be generalists? Could the very concept of "doctor" have developed differently?

- The psychology/psychiatry distinction: Within OTL medicine there is a distinction between understanding the mind and understanding the body, and a further distinction between understanding normal mental functioning and understanding mental illness. As relatively young disciplines how might psychology and psychiatry have developed differently? In an ATL might they be considered one in the same?

- Occupational therapy and physiotherapy: These are two allied health professions with quite specific but in some ways also quite arbitrary remits. Occupational therapists address the patient's practical every day functioning and seek to improve health and well-being through activity. Physiotherapists typically address musculo-skeletal assessment and rehabilitation. In an ATL could these two roles be combined into one? Or both subsumed into the role of the doctor? Or never develop at all?

- Competition in medical research: A lot of time and money is wasted in medical research as different research teams race to find the answer to the same question and when one of these teams succeeds the work done by all the others becomes redundant. In an ATL might we see national governments or international organisations decide that some research is too important to be left to the free market and assign researchers to particular problems? Or even enforce co-operation in research?

So how about it, does anyone have any thoughts on these? I know medical history isn't everyone's interest but I'd love to hear any medical PODs of your own. Or maybe you have suggestions for alternate medical time lines I should check out?
Top