Sjukvård, sjömän och social stigmatisering: Venerisk sjukdom och kurhusvården av manliga patienter på Holtermanska sjukhuset åren 1893-1895 och 1923-1925

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the treatment and care of male patients with venereal diseases, at Holtermanska kurhuset (lock hospital) in Gothenburg, Sweden, during two periods: 1893-1895 and 1923-1925. Mainly, the study pays attention to the care of male patients working as sailors in order to answer the main aim: whether occupational status and social position influenced medical treatment and institutional care. The theoretical framework takes inspiration from masculinity and stigmatization theories to examine how morality and male identity shaped medical practice. By studying original patient journals from Holtermanska, and by combining quantitative and qualitative methods, factors such as occupation, age, societal status, addresses, treatment methods, and duration of hospitalization are analyzed comparatively between sailors and other male patients, as well as between the two time periods. The results demonstrate that a majority of the total number of kurhus patients were male, and that they mostly worked as sailors, between 30-42 percent each year. This also increased over the two time periods, as well as more occupations within the male patient group. Over time, the medical treatment also changed, for example through the discovery of salvarsan. The results also indicate that neither venereal disease nor medical care was fully socially neutral. While no particular difference is found in relation to how the journals were written, or which medicine the patients were given, results still indicate differences in treatment duration, patterns of repeated kurhus care, and different diagnoses suggesting that occupation and social status had an influence on how patients were treated. Especially for the male patients working as sailors, who already had a marginalized position in society. Additionally, the study also reveals internal hierarchies among male patients and within the maritime profession. By focusing on experiences of male patients, in particular sailors (largely overlooked in previous research) the thesis therefore contributes to the research field of venereal disease, social control, masculinity, and medical discrimination in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Sweden.