Women Physicians at Baylor University Medical Center

Abstract

Human kind might be divided into three groups-men, women, and women physicians .-SIR WILLIAM OSLER HISTORY OF WOMEN IN HEALING The early Greeks invoked both gods and goddesses in their healing rituals. Demeter was the caregiver of women and children; Persephone could cure illnesses of teeth; Athena cured blindness; Medea and Circe knew poisons and their antidotes; and Isis, the imported goddess of the Egyptians portrayed as a black raven, was believed to be the greatest healer of all. Even the Hippocratic Oath begins , "I swear by Apollo the physician [a god], by Asclepius [a god], by Hygeia [goddess of prevention, sanitation, and nutrition] and Panacea [goddess of cure], and by all the gods and goddesses making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and covenant." Early healers in Greece were as likely to be women as men, and Greek women healers were keepers of the snakes. To this day, the snake-entwined staff represents medicine. In later Greek times, women were increasingly restricted from the practice of healing. One of the better-known women Greek physicians was Agnodice. She was trained by the master physician Herophilus and was very capable. However, she had to disguise herself as a man to perform her profession in the third century BC, when women were barred from practicing medicine in Greece. Legend says that when she was forced to stand trial for practicing medicine, women patients ran to her support and threatened divorce and withholding of marital enjoyments if she were not allowed to continue her practice. The women prevailed, and Agnodice subsequently had a long career. In the Roman era, women from aristocratic families practiced a form of domestic medicine, often prescribing medicine and potions for their families and domestic workers. Galen collected what he felt were the most efficacious prescriptions. His works include prescriptions by women matriarchs: Origenia for diarrhea , Eugerasia for nephritis, and Antiochis for chest pain and gout. He even mentioned a female army surgeon by the name of Margareta. In the Dark Ages in Europe, the teachings of the Greeks and the Romans were lost. During the 11th century, Arabs translated the works of Galen, Aristotle, and Hippocrates into Arabic, and the works were then reintroduced into Europe by Jews who could read both Arabic and Latin. Christians subsequently translated the Latin texts into local languages, and thereby lost medical knowledge was regained. In the year 1000, Europe's most important institution for medical teaching was in Salerno, Italy. There, the most distinguished teacher was a woman named Trotula, who wrote a treatise on gynecology and obstetrics that would be copied for hundreds of years. She was renowned as a skilled diagnostician and discussed assessments of pulse and urine. She was the first to describe the dermatologic manifestations of syphilis, she gave opiates for pain, and she wrote directly on the need for hygiene. She taught that surgery was to be conducted with extreme attention to avoid any contamination of the wound. The church in the Middle Ages encouraged a life of virginity and service to mitigate the original sin of Eve. Thus, many women entered convents to work in healing. During this time, Hildegard (1098-1179) was the most renowned abbess. Her abbey published a major work, Causae et Curae, which is attributed to Hildegard, although it was likely compiled by the many women who worked at the abbey. The treatise included a 4-humor theory of health and disease, different from that of the Greeks, and the earliest factual description of female orgasm. Use of 485 plants in healing was described, although the dosages recommended were near-homeopathic. She taught diabetic patients to avoid sweets and nuts. While the teachings also included magic, Hildegard was a scientist, compiling all that was known and believed at that time about healing treatments. This book enjoyed a wide and prolonged circulation. In the Middle Ages, there was little sanitation, and the bu-bonic plague spread easily after a dramatic beginning in Octo-ber 1347 when 12 ships sailored by dying men from the Crimea limped into the port of Messina. Sanitation and prevention practices as taught by the Greeks and attributed to the goddess