Deontología médica en la obra de Gaspar Casal

Abstract

The Historia Natural y Médica of Gaspar Casal allows us to approach different aspects of the medical practice of the eighteenth century, taking as our starting point of the idea of a virtuous physician postulated by Father Feijóo. In its pages we are offered directly the guidelines with which the doctor of the time should be conducted in his daily duties. He would have to know his trade well; but at the same time he should recognize the limitations of his art, behaving towards the patient with prudence and measure in the application of his faculties, of his knowledge and in the use of remedies. Throuhghout this magnificient work we are alerted to excessive intervention and unnecessary treatments. Within the paternalistic model, he gives us the example of how he should treat his patients correctly and humanely and should not subject the most needy to burdensome expenses. And finally, he shows us in his behavior what the relationships with medical colleagues, surgeons, apothecaries and other offices that are involved in the care and healing of the sick, such as nurses, bleeding and barbers, should be. His way of practicing the profession is the beginning of a rationalized empiricism that marks the beginning of a new medicine, seeking a judicious combination of inherited knowledge, practical observation and timely experimentation.