The Castelltort paupers' hospital in Cervera: neurological and general care in the late 18th century

Type of article: ORIGINAL

AUTHORS

J. A. Matías-Guiu, J. Matías-Guiu
Department of Neurology, Instituto de Neurociencias, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

ABSTRACT

Very little information is to be found about the care provided by paupers' hospitals in the 17th and 18th centuries. This article presents a review of the evolution and activity of the Castelltort paupers' hospital in Cervera, an inland town in Catalonia. We also analyse the hospital's admission and discharge records during that period. Although the hospital was funded primarily by donations, it also received support from the local government. Most of its patients suffered from infections or nutritional deficiencies. There were very few neurological diagnoses; of the few we found, most are descriptive and correspond to pain and headache. Mortality rates were very high among the few patients hospitalised due to stroke.

KEYWORDS

18th century, local hospital, paupers' hospital, Cervera, stroke, neurological disease.

Neurosciences and History 2013;1(2):88-93