A PHYSICIAN AND A PATIENT IN THE HISTORY OF CULTURE

Abstract

The phenomenon of a disease and transformation of relations of a doctor and a patient in the history of European culture is studied. Many peoples in different parts of the world entrusted a mission of a doctor on a tribe shaman. Fear, awe, gratitude, and sometimes a sense of contact with unfathomable are combined in the attitude of "mere mortals" to someone who promises help in case of a disease. The doctor was still a figure, wrapped in mystery, nearly a mythical one. An illness which forces a man to trust physician’s care often deprives a ward of choice and independent decision -that is freedom as a fundamental property inherent in personality. He - a patient - indeed, is transformed in a "case", a subject of medical research.