[An interest group in the Haina Hospital against the anatomic dissection. Actors and their protest readiness against organizational expectations].

Abstract

Between 1839 and 1853 several petitions have been addressed by inmates of the Haina hospital (Hesse, Germany) in order to save them from being transferred to the Anatomical Institute of the University of Marburg for post mortem dissection. In 1855, exemptions were granted in certain cases. Initially, the petitioners' strategies of argumentation and procedure have been analysed; then--referring to the application being sent in December 1847 and signed by 30 persons--the focus goes to the formation of this group and their opportunities for action. As a result it can be stated that inmates being physically ill or impaired or with impeded visual sensory perception tried to withstand unsuitable restrictions of their liberty of action as well as their personal rights induced by the routines of every-day hospital life. Guiltless for depending on public assistance they were not willing to accept unjustified curtailing of their personal and moral integrity. The attempts of being saved from anatomical dissection are part of the inmates' self-assertion.