[The day-to-day routine in hospitals--standards and conflicts, based on the example of the Rothschild spital in Vienna around the year 1900].

Abstract

The juxtaposition of official regulations and letters of complaint from Vienna's Rothschild Hospital shows, beyond the rhetoric and euphemisms of hospital reports, how lively and diverse day-to-day life was in a Jewish hospital around the year 1900. The letters of complaint query the official hospital rules and show that ideal and reality did not always coincide. Often, religious questions were at the root of the critique--such as doubts as to whether kosher dietary laws were adhered to--or conflicts between the agents involved, be they individuals or groups, patients, nurses, physicians or administrative staff. As part of this process, power structures, social hierarchies, patient rights and gender issues were called into question and renegotiated.