Books > History/Anthropology > History of Medecine/Psychiatry > Blood and Justice.The 17th century Parisian doctor who made blood transfusion history
Blood and Justice.The 17th century Parisian doctor who made blood transfusion history
Reference : 9780470848425
Author : Pete Moore
Number of page : 224
Edition : John Wiley & son
Release date : 2003-01-01
- Secondhand book. As New.
- Hardback
The years is 1688 and it is a clear Spring day in Paris . At the court of Chastelet a distingued and learned crowd is gathered to view the trial of Jean-Baptise Denis, a bright young mathematician with an interest in medecine. Denis has recently earned himself a place in history by being the first person to perform a blood transfusion on a human being. But things have not gone well for Denis or for Antoine Mauroy, his patient. Mauroy hes died and Denis is ontrial for murder.
This fascinating tale of madness, corruption and intrigue roams from classical Greece to the London of Sir Christopher Wren and the Paris of Louis XIV. The exploration of profound ethical dilemmas is as relevant today as in Denis' own time.
Blood transfusion today is a routine medical procedure. Yet in the 17th century the idea of giving somebody blood rather than blood letting was dangerously unconventional. English pioneers like Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren and Richard Lower had performed numerous experiment on animals, but nobody except Denis had dared to transfuse blood into a human being.
Denis' idea was both simple and radical. By transfusing the blood of a calm, innocent calf into that of the dissolute and insane Mauroy he would cure him of his madness. The moral dilemma was obvious: should he leave Mauroy in his misery and resign himself to obscurity or should he attempt to play God and earn his place in history?
Dr Peter Moore is Chairman of the Medical Journalists Association and winner of many awards for his journalism. He is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Bristol and an official rapporteur at windsor Castle and at private meetings at the House of Lords.
