Roman Physicians
Disease, sickness, and injury have surely been present in every society. The causes and treatments of such things in ancient societies often had a link to the beliefs within the culture. As history progressed, there seems to be a trend of belief slowly being replaced by knowledge-based practices. Although many Roman medical practices were still intertwined with superstition and mythology, A History of Science Volume 1 illustrates that Roman physicians through scientific principles also employed methods that are consistent with modern medicine. The Romans also had ideas about medical practice that could be useful in today’s society.
Roman medical practices included the use of drugs by ophthalmic surgeons, which included some ingredients that still are used to treat certain eye problems, treating hemorrhage by ligatures and torsion, and the use of bandages. One of the most prominent Roman physicians, Claudius Galenus (Galen), understood that certain muscles were under the control of definite sets of nerves. He also understood that nerves conducted impulses to and from the brain. He was able to use this knowledge to help his patient’s recover from injury. The understanding of human anatomy and physiology and some of their medical practices are a result of their scientific study.
Rather than just speculating some religious reason for how the body works or becomes injured or infected, the Roman physicians followed the example of the Greeks and investigated the body. During Galen’s time it was illegal to do human dissections (although Williams speculates that he might secretly have done so). This didn’t stop him from gaining understanding of the body. He used animal dissections to experiment with the nerves and try to understand the anatomy and physiology of the organs. It is amazing how Galen and other Roman physicians put such effort into understanding human health and how they were able to apply their understanding and develop effective methods to treat their patients.
Physicians became necessary in Roman society. They gradually reached enough value in society that they were granted immunity from taxes and military services. The emperors even created city and district physicians, the archiatri populaires. These physicians treated and cared for the poor and gave medical instruction to students without compensation. Instead, they received their salary semi-annually and were allowed to receive fees and donations after medical problem was fully treated. There were also laws protecting physicians from insults.
Physicians are equally if not even more necessary in modern society, yet modern society could benefit from some of the Roman ideas about medical practice. Although there is no need to grant immunity from taxes and military service, having more laws to protect well-intentioned physicians could change current health care costs. If there were less opportunities to sue a physician, malpractice insurance rates could be reduced and physicians wouldn’t have to charge so much for their services. Also, if physicians trained and instructed medical students for free or a low cost health care costs could also be reduced. Physicians would no longer need to be paid such high fees for their services in order to pay back very expensive student loans accrued from medical school. Although Galen recognized that even in his time there were physicians that were “lovers of money,” the Roman physicians’ desire to understand and effectively heal the human body and the Roman society’s later high esteem for their physicians produced quality physicians that were genuinely concerned for their patient’s well-being and practiced remarkable medicine for their time.
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