toyouin yourownbed.Thefunctionofhospitalswas
mainly custodial. As the great physician-writer Lewis
Thomas observed, describing his internship at Boston
CityHospitalin1937,“Ifbeinginahospitalbedmadea
difference, it was mostly the difference produced by
warmth,shelter, and food, and attentive, friendlycare,
andthematchlessskillofthenursesinprovidingthese
things. Whether you survived or not depended on the
naturalhistoryofthediseaseitself.Medicinemadelittle
or no difference.”
FromWorldWarIIonward,thepictureshiftedradically.
Sulfa, penicillin, and then numerous other antibiotics
becameavailablefortreatinginfections.Drugstocontrol
blood pressure and treat hormonal imbalances were
discovered. Breakthroughs in everything from heart
surgerytoartificialrespiratorstokidneytransplantation
becamecommonplace.Doctors becameheroes, andthe
hospital transformed from a symbol of sickness and
despondency to a place of hope and cure.
Communitiescould not buildhospitalsfast enough. In
America,in1946,CongresspassedtheHill-BurtonAct,
which providedmassive amountsof governmentfunds
forhospitalconstruction.Twodecadeslatertheprogram
had financed more than nine thousand new medical
facilities across the country. For the first time, most
peoplehadahospitalnearby,andthisbecametrueacross
the industrialized world.
The magnitudeof this transformation is impossible to
overstate.Formostofourspecies’existence,peoplewere
fundamentallyontheirownwiththesufferingsoftheir
body. They depended on nature and chance and the