Case history in the traditions of medical education

Abstract

This article explores the development of medical narratives and their potential use as sources in historical and medical history research. The tradition of documenting individual cases of diseases dates back to ancient Greece, with the *Epidemic* treatise from the Hippocratic Corpus serving as a classic example. During the Renaissance, the cultural shift towards an interest in the human individual inspired physicians to revive and refine narrative practices. For instance, the case histories created by Ambroise Paré reflect an attempt at prosopographic studies to identify the characteristics of his patients. The primary purpose of these case histories was to educate young surgeons, partially compensating for their lack of clinical experience.

These types of sources are valuable to historians of medicine as they represent an early stage in the development of medical records. Historians, in contrast, value Paré’s narratives for their indivisibility of genres and the lack of a standardized format, which allows for the inclusion of information that might be missing in a more formalized medical history. Scholars interested in "social history" can find material in these narratives to draw conclusions not only about the patients but also about the moral values and inner world of a 16th-century physician. The detailed medical histories created by Paré extend beyond traditional surgical treatises. The distinctive features of Paré’s presentation, along with his moral evaluation of the realities he describes, indicate that these historical sources possess both medical and literary significance.