Medical Expertise at Yekaterinburg Hospital: Legislation and Practice in 1720s–1750s
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-5-473-490
Abstract
This article examines the process of con ducting medical expertise at the Yekaterin burg Hospital during the years 1720 to 1750. It highlights that medical examination was mandated by legislation in cases of early res ignation from factory service due to health issues, constituting one of the primary respon sibilities of the medical institution. The ob jective of this study is to reconstruct the ad ministrative and medical procedures that had developed within the mining administration by the end of the 1720s. The main source base consists of documentary evidence from official records, with significant emphasis on excerpts from medical histories, as well as originals and copies of passports dated be tween 1747 and 1751, issued to skilled and laboring individuals by the Office of the Chief Factories Administration due to loss of work capacity. The article analyzes the processes and practices surrounding medical examina tions at the Yekaterinburg Hospital. It reveals the most common illnesses and occupational injuries among factory workers that prompted requests for medical assistance. Criteria for assigning temporary or permanent disabil ity are identified. The study concludes that the healthcare system in the mining sector ex hibited a distinctly military character. It dem onstrates that, in accordance with existing legislation, the management of the Yekaterin burg Hospital was obligated to consider not only the principles of medical ethics but also the needs of the treasury for human resources.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: The study is supported by Russian Science Foundation, project number 24-18-00080 “Anthropology of the Mining Center: Social Stratification of Early Yekaterinburg, 1723–1781”
About the Author
A. Plate
Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alice Plate, PhD in History, research scientist, Laboratory of Editorial Archaeography
Yekaterinburg
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For citations:
Plate A. Medical Expertise at Yekaterinburg Hospital: Legislation and Practice in 1720s–1750s. Nauchnyi dialog. 2025;14(5):473-490. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-5-473-490
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