Italian Patient, The

Synopsis: While leeches, bleeding and amputation with opium were commonplace practices in Renaissance medicine, it also had a surprisingly enlightened side. The Santa Maria Nuova hospital in Florence offered free healthcare to the poor, good food, clean sheets and strict hygiene, an outpatients’ clinic, a private wing, a district nurse service and consultants. Henry VII was so impressed that he ordered London’s Savoy Hospital (now the Savoy Hotel) to be modelled on it. But it wasn’t just late twentieth century medical practices that the Santa Maria Nuova employed, remarkably the hospital also practises holistic medicine. The patients’ spiritual needs were seen as integral to their well-being and patients were surrounded by uplifting art and sculpture and prayers were held twice a day.
Series: Renaissance Secrets, Series 2
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 2002
Year of production: 2001
Subjects: History; Medical sciences
Keywords: history of medicine; history of the 15th century; holistic medicine; hospitals; Renaissance; social history

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