The situation of patients' relatives was
earlier completely ignored within the medical health care. However,
in the  past
few decades, the relatives have received more and more attention,
and have also become visible in the legislation. During the first
half of the nineteenth century, institutions were expected to take
care of those who suffered from mental illness or were considered
mentally retarded, and solve all the problems that might arise.
In a popular Swedish medical book from 1949 one can read about "the
misdirected love of the mothers", which prevented the "idiots"
from being properly nursed.
Back to the index page for Lena's column
about relatives |
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