Infirmary
The term sick mother , sometimes also hospital master, was used in the Middle Ages and referred to a woman who was responsible for caring for old and sick people. The sick mothers usually worked in so-called infirmary houses and were in charge of them in many cases. Often they were widows who had devoted themselves to charity , or they were married to the hospital master who was in charge of the infirmary. Contrary to today's understanding, the infirmaries were not hospitals, but old and decrepit people in need of care were cared for as part of poor relief. Baders or doctors were not part of the permanent staff of these facilities.
On the one hand, sick mothers provided practical care in cases of illness, but were also responsible for the coordination, division and supervision of the sick maids who were subordinate to them and who did the actual work. In special cases, the infirm mothers also took over the sole care and treatment of certain patients, who then looked after them alone or together with a bather.
In some cases sick mothers, similar to herb women, who sold herbs they had collected, and midwives were persecuted as witches .
literature
- Michael Matheus: Functional and structural change in late medieval hospitals , Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3515082336
- Ralph Christian Amthor: The History of Vocational Training in Social Work: In Search of Professionalization and Identity ; Juventa, 2003, Chapter 3.5, ISBN 3779917033
Individual evidence
- ^ Sabine Sander: Women, Heilkundige (modern times). In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 422 f .; here: p. 422.