Medieval Er Case

Medieval ER

The majority of the people that got sick during the Middle Ages died. The fact that they knew nothing about germs and bacteria made them vulnerable to catching viruses and diseases. The Middle Ages was an extremely religious time period for the people in Europe. There were only two ways to get healed in this time period, one way was to go to the Church and the other way was to go see a physician. Due to the lack of knowledge, people turned more to the Church rather than seeing an actual doctor for medical needs. The Church and physicians clashed over where and what people should do when they became sick.

In modern day, one would go see a doctor to seek medical needs, but that was not the case in the Middle Ages. The decision of deciding whether or not to see a doctor or go to the Church was critical during the Middle Ages. Their choice would decide if they were to die or if they would live. The majority of the time the Church and physicians would clash; they would blame each other on the death of people's lives (Rubin 69). According to Rubin, "Many of the sick and injured turned to the help and comfort offered by the Church" (Rubin 69). The sick also sought help from "the Saints" (Rubin 69). The Church comforted the people much better than an actual physician could; even though that is quite the opposite of today's world (Rubin 69). The other half of the time, in cases which they saw a physician, the cases were more severe. Rubin stated, "The less religious people were more likely to go see a physician than go to the Church" (Rubin 71). Even though a physician could not comfort a person as well as the Church, they "actually healed the patient" (Rubin 71). A physician did not offer the person comfort; they did physical healing (Rubin 71). The physician is very different compared to the Church; they had their own procedures to follow.

A physician was very specific on the way he did things. They followed a very detailed process with every person they treated. Walsh said, "Before a physician would even examine the patient he would give a prognosis" (Walsh 22). It is weird that the doctor would tell you what was wrong with you before they even looked at you, but that is how it worked in the Middle Ages. After giving the prognosis, "the physician would check all external symptoms" (Walsh 23). A physician would compare there prognosis to the external symptoms. They would then check previous records of all the medical books that they had relating to the patient's symptoms. Walsh states, "Physicians would go deeper in to the examining process after checking the records" (Walsh 27). They were finally able to tell the patient what they had after the final examination. A physician had a hard time treating the patient because of the lack knowledge. Herbal remedies and strict diets were the two main ways that a physician