Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 66-68. (Budapest, 1973)

TANULMÁNYOK - Székely Sándor: Az 1876-os közegészségügyi törvény előkészítéséről (angol nyelven)

if need be, central measures were to be taken to eliminate them. The cost of the measures would be borne partly by the local organs and partly by the Government (Treasury). Paragraphs 10—17 provided for keeping the air clean, for drainage, water hygiene, housing sanitation, food tests and hygiene, industrial hygiene, etc. From the point of view of child care, highly significant was Paragraph 20 which made it the duty of the person responsible for the care of a child or children to take a sick child to the physician. At the same time it obliged the doctor to treat children under seven years of age for half of the minimum fee set at any given time. Paragraph 39 declared it was a universal duty to provide aid in case of an accident or apparent death. Paragraph 41 calls for "popular education", and Paragraph 42 in fact stipulates that "All the foregoing and generally the chief rules which merit attention from the point of view of health are to be taught in the elementary schools" The chapter on medical practice is not so much about the doctor-patient relationship as about the criteria of qualifications to practice medicine. "A physician qualified to practice cannot be limited in regard to the treatment he employs . .. and is responsible for any professional blunders committed," declares Paragraph 47. Somewhat similar is the chapter on midwifery, which leaves untouched the right of practice for midwives who have engaged, "under any title", in the occupation until then but in the future grants only certified midwives the licence to practice. Act XIV of 1870 devotes the greatest attention to two topics, one of them hospitals and therapeutic institutions and the other corpses and burial. The significance of therapeutic institutions in restoring the health of working people was already recognized in the third quarter of the last century, whereas the legal, sanitary and police aspects of the latter group of topics justify more detailed treatment. In Chapter IV on hospitals and therapeutic institutions it can be read that the public hospitals are bound to admit all patients as long as they have room, private hospitals are bound to admit only those patients for whom they are "equipped", for the latter institutions are generally specialized only for the treatment of certain diseases. Paragraph 02 says: "Every public and private hospital and therapeutic institution should be provided with an adequate number of physicians and nurses" Article 03: "Only medical scientists with a minimum of two years of practice to their credit may be employed in the capacity of hospital head physicians

..." Worth quoting is Article 75 from the chapter on lunatic asylums: "In the case of mental patients personal restraint and means of force may be applied only in cases of need to preserve the safety of the patient or others and only on medical order, and are to be stopped immediately as the need has passed " The law deals in detail with what is to be done in cases of infectious diseases and epidemics, and devotes a separate chapter to smallpox vaccination. In case of an epidemic the authorities have to follow the procedures determined by the 6 Orvostörténeti Közlemények 66—

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