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MEDICINE

obstetrics. “In this one branch of medicine, tice more challenging than earning their creden- theirs would be the first medical school of any
there was no better practical education.” tials. In a time “female physician” equated to kind to feature a professor—Elizabeth her-
La Maternité showed her that medical and abortionist, patients were hard to recruit. Pa- self—devoted to the subject of hygiene.
social issues were inseparable, particularly in trons were easier. Ever the institutionalists, Eliz- Janice Nimura paints these stories as if in
terms of hygiene and household. It was a phi- abeth and Emily opened the first hospital staffed companionship with the Blackwells, perhaps
losophy she would carry throughout her life. by women in 1857, the New York Infirmary for with an overzealous reliance on their own
Unfortunately, the lesson left her the perma- Indigent Women and Children. writings in letters and diaries. “The Doctors
nent loss of her left eye from an infection of pu- Decades of medical advancement and social Blackwell” can be a reader’s challenge (“vale-
rulent ophthalmia, an aggressive form of turmoil are portrayed through the eyes and ex- tudinarian”?) and the principals not especially
conjunctivitis related to gonorrhea. periences of the Blackwells. They served both likeable characters, but stalwart readers will
For medical school, Emily Blackwell had the indigent in the Infirmary and their Patrons find themselves immersed in a pivotal time of
greater choices and was less selective. She intro- in private practice until they reach the height health care and more aware of their heritage
duced herself to the president of Rush Medical of their combined efforts: The Woman’s Med- for the effort.
College in Chicago. Previously, Emily had dis- ical College of the New York Infirmary. All quotes and images from: Nimura, Janice
tinguished herself attending lectures at Belle- It was the first school entirely devoted to the P. “The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneer-
vue Hospital given by Columbia faculty. “The medical education of women. The Doctors ing Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and
endorsement of the Bellevue Brahmins made Blackwell ran it under a different and better Women to Medicine” (2021) W. W. Norton
all the difference: it was easier for Rush’s leaders philosophy. Students had to attend for three & Company. Kindle Edition.
to act boldly on Emily’s behalf when they could years instead of the standard two, and would
point to men of large reputation who had al- have hands-on lessons. Their course of lectures David Alex Schulz, CHP is a
ready done so.” would build progressively year to year, rather community member of the BCMS
The Doctors Blackwell found opening a prac- than simply repeating the same material. And Publications Committee.

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