Bad Doctors Military Justice Proceedings Against 622 Civil War Surgeons
Roughly 12,000 surgeons served in the Civil War. Roughly, 11,400 were well behaved and attentive to their duties. However, over 600 doctors were drunk, obnoxious, insolent, incompetent, arrogant, absent, lazy, and / or insane. A comprehensive work, based on original documents of the Judge Advocate General, the War Department, and the records of the Surgeon General, all during the Civil War, as well as the annals of the United States Service Magazine (1861-1865). 2010, CreateSpace.
F. Terry Hambrecht, M.D., Civil War medical historian: The vast majority of physicians who served during the American Civil War were hardworking, responsible individuals who gave their highest priority to patient care. This book, on the other hand, is a fascinating compilation of summaries of those who failed in their duties and of their punishments. While reading these often wild tales, one experiences revulsion, pathos, and, on occasion, absurdest humor. I could not help thinking that these stories could form a darker and more sinister version of the MASH television dramas. Nearly every one of these stories hints at a whole volume of malfeasance. I found this book both enjoyable and informative.
Linda Wheeler, Washington Post Civil War Columnist: If I were a Civil War soldier, Tom Lowry's newest book, Bad Doctors, would scare me into an early retirement. What a nightmare, to be under the care of someone like Henry M. Hall, one of the "misbehaving surgeons." This is a staggering parade of the careless, the arrogant, the drunk; a veritable cavalcade of greed, unreliability, ego, and incompetence. Tom and his co-author Terry Reimer have given us a fresh, if disturbing, look at the hell-known-as-war from the medical side, based solidly on the authors' expertise and meticulous research.
