Doctors in the Great Famine, 1845-1850

Abstract

The medical services, like most others in Ireland, were swamped by the massive demands of the Great Famine and its accompanying disruptions, diseases and epidemics. They were not, however, 'drowned', due largely to the fortitude of the individual doctors, the remarkable robustness of many of the medical institutions, and the vigorous if often unpopular steps taken by the central board of health whose most assiduous member was Dominic John Corrigan. There was a heavy price, mortality amongst doctors was very high (in 1847 alone, at least 123 died of 'fever' contracted in the course of duty), and a basic reform--most of the 'medical charities' came to be permanently administered through the Poor Law machinery.