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William Osler and The Fixed Period
Conflicting Medical and Popular Ideas About Old Age
Arch Intern Med. 2001;161:2074-2078.
William Osler (1849-1919) has long been hailed as one of the most illustrious
physicians in our history. Yet, Osler's claim to fame outside the medical
profession in the early 20th century was through what became known as The Fixed Period controversy about the usefulness of old
men. In 1905, as the 55-year-old Osler said farewell to Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine before leaving for Oxford University in England he remarked
that men older than 60 years should be retired. He further mentioned a suggestion,
which he attributed to Anthony Trollope's novel The Fixed
Period, that men older than that age be chloroformed. This article
explores the public reaction to Osler in the context of early 20th-century
American ideas about old age and manhood. As our society has changed over
the past century, so have our ideas about old age. The Fixed Period incident
offers us an opportunity to explore the relationship between medical and popular
ideas about old age. This historical perspective allows us to see that physicians
have not always had authority over old age and that public understanding and
medical pronouncements on old age do not necessarily match.
Laura Davidow Hirshbein, MD, PhD
From the Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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