War and Medicine at the Canadian War Museum

War and Medicine is the Canadian War Museum’s major summer exhibition. War and Medicine provides an unflinching look at the relationship between medical practice and military operations over the past 150 years. It comprises more than 300 artifacts, images, and works of art from the Museum’s National Collection and 50 lenders in Europe and North America. The exhibition is open until 13 November 2011

James Mann, M.D. (1759-1832): Military Surgeon for the Second War of Independence .

The War of 1812 is remembered for the Burning of Washington, and Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner,” but little else. It was a poorly funded war of relatively short duration and nebulous resolution. Under such circumstances, it is understandable that the “Second War of Independence” failed to produce many notable military or medical advancements. However, one surgeon took it upon himself to recount his experiences in the field. For his dedication to the art and science of medicine, James Mann deserves recognition

Strategy at the crossroads: The case of the navy hospital ships

We examine the state of knowledge in the defense literature on the use of military medical humanitarian assistance missions and examine their implications for navy hospital ships. As humanitarian assistance missions grow in importance for combatant commanders, deployed forces, senior government leaders and the international community, it becomes more important to determine desired outcomes and to set clear priorities for hospital ship use. Only when this is done can activities that promote achievement of policy goals be selected. While traditional hospital ship missions focus on combat support and training, successful humanitarian assistance campaigns typically address improving security and stability in a region, attitudes towards Americans and the West, and health and welfare conditions of local populations. We argue that well-crafted and communicated goals and priorities for the use of hospital ships are essential if the ships are to achieve desired policy outcomes.humanitarian assistance; military medicine; strategic planning

Medicine Infected by Politics: The American Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934

This article discusses the impact that politics and social beliefs have on the humanitarian goals of medicine, using the American occupation of Haiti (1915-1934) as a backdrop. First, the article explains how the United States intervened in Haiti in order to maintain its political hegemony in the Caribbean, develop Haiti as a new market for American investors, and civilize the supposedly backwards Haiti. Previously, historians have recognized the important role that medicine played during the occupation, but this article highlights how U.S. political, economic, and cultural motives distorted the practice of medicine in Haiti. For instance, from 1915-1922, the Americans established martial law and sought to eliminate resistance against the U.S. presence in Haiti. American brutality in these early years led to the selective practice of medicine, as the Americans only treated Haitian patients when it served to protect the health of U.S. Marines or pacify the Haitian populace. Thus, under the military, medicine\u27s goals morphed from patient health and well-being to order and control via health. Following the reorganization of the occupation, medicine sought to justify the continuation of U.S. control over Haiti. The widespread treatment of Haitian diseases served as wonderful propaganda for the Americans, but in reality, the aims of medicine were to confer the benefits of civilization upon Haiti and revitalize the nation\u27s economy via a healthy workforce. Thus, this article demonstrates the susceptibility of medicine to political and social aims

Federal Policy and the Rise in Disability Enrollment: Evidence for the VA's Disability Compensation Program

The U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) currently provides disability benefits to 2.72 million veterans of U.S. military service through the Disability Compensation (DC) program. Until recently, the medical eligibility criteria for this program were the same across service eras, with the key condition being that the disability was caused or aggravated by military service. But in July of 2001, the VA relaxed the eligibility criteria for Vietnam veterans by including diabetes in the list of conditions covered by DC. This change was motivated by an Institute of Medicine report, which linked exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used by the U.S. military in Vietnam, to the onset of diabetes. In this paper, we investigate the impact of this policy change on DC enrollment, expenditures, and the sensitivity of the program to economic conditions. Our findings demonstrate that the Agent Orange decision increased DC enrollment by 7.6 percentage points among Vietnam veterans and that an additional 3.3 percent enjoyed an increase in their DC benefits. Our estimates further suggest that the policy change increased program expenditures by $2.69 billion during the 2006 fiscal year and by$45 billion in present value terms. After the policy took effect, we find that the sensitivity of the program to local economic conditions increased substantially. Taken together, our results suggest that even relatively narrow changes in the medical eligibility criteria for federal disability programs can have a powerful effect on program enrollment and expenditures.

Technology and culture in Greek and Roman antiquity

The technological achievements of the Greeks and Romans continue to fascinate and excite admiration. But what was the place of technology in their cultures? Through five case-studies, this book sets ancient technical knowledge in its political, social and intellectual context. It explores the definition of the techne of medicine in classical Athens, the development of new military technology in Hellenistic times, the self-image of technicians through funerary art in the early Roman Empire, the resolution of boundary disputes in the early second century AD, and the status of architecture and architects in late antiquity. Deploying a wide range of evidence, it reconstructs a dialectic picture of ancient technology, where several ancient points of view are described and analyzed, and their interaction examined. Dr Cuomo argues for the centrality of technology to the ancient world-picture, and for its extraordinarily rich political, social, economic and religious significance. • Offers five in-depth, varied case-studies, each with a slightly different methodological focus • Covers a broad period from classical Athens to late antiquity and a wide range of disciplines • Only book of its kind to make extensive use of non-textual material and of the newest historiographical approaches from both classics and the history of science and technology Contents Introduction; 1. The definition of techne in classical Athens; 2. The Hellenistic military revolution; 3. Death and the craftsman; 4. Boundary disputes in the Roman Empire; 5. Architects of late antiquity; Epilogue

Baylor History of Medicine Society Schedule 2006-2007

After Western Medicine: From Hippocrates to Xavier Bichat (H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.) Who Goes First? The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine (David Sears, M.D.) Exercise and Health: From Pre-History to the Present (Carlos Valbonna, M.D.) Supernaturalism to Rationalism and the Man Between (Student Essay Contest Winners) (Don Lassus) The Fog of War’s Silver Lining: The Lasting Impact of Military Medicine (Student Essay Contest Winners) (Ajit Vyas) From Drummers to Detail Men: Medicine and the pharmaceutical industry in the United States, 1900-1960 (Howard Brody) Eyewash and Thunderbolts: The Medical Adventures of Lewis and Clark (Herbert M. Swick) Angry Arrows and Satin Dresses: Tales from the Annals of Plague (Herbert M. Swick) The Greatest Books in the History of Neurology (Robert Gordon) Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Paralytic Illness: What was the cause? (Armond S. Goldman

Военно-медицинское обеспечение Кировской области в период Великой Отечественной Войны 1941-1945 гг.

В статье дается обзор состояния и динамики военной медицины Кировской области в период Великой Отечественной войны. Военно-медицинское обеспечение области представлено как развивающая система взаимосвязанных элементов (госпитальной базы области, органов управления и масштабной общественной помощи).The article provides an overview of the status and dynamics of military medicine of the Kirov region during The Great Patriotic War. Military medical support in the region is represented as a developing system of interrelated elements (hospital base of the region, governments and large-scale social assistance)