Hôtel Dieu ; Oldest Hospital in Paris Threatened With Scandalous Changes

Hôtel Dieu has been in existence since 651, making it the oldest hospital in the city and one of the oldest in Europe. Recently there has been threats to close down the emergency room and hospital wards and turn it into a day surgical center, which has provoked a tremendous opposition from the medical community and surrounding residents.

Because of its dead central location, just next to Notre Dame cathedral, it is a strategic place, surrounded by 9 arrondissements. It is pertinent that Hôtel Dieu continue to serve Parisians and the many tourists staying in the vicinity at any given time, as she has done in the past 1,362 years!

Besides her ancient roots, which has always intrigued me, I have long felt a sense of attachment to this hospital.
Strange as it may seem, I enjoy going there for the quietness in the long halls, the beautiful engravings on the wall and the exquisite interior garden a la francaise. It is my secret escape from the frenzied hordes of tourists milling about in front of Notre Dame.

I also revel in the energy of the place, which I find sweet; knowing that it has been a haven of care and healing for the poor, and has served as a place of learning to thousands of physicians and nurses all over the world. Its history is as rich as Paris herself!

Hôtel Dieu was originally constructed along the banks of the Seine river, on the opposite side of Notre Dame, as seen in an old photo. From 651 until 1908, the care of patients was administered by Augustinian nuns.

It original purpose was to serve the poor of the city, with donations being provided by the bourgeois and nobility. By 1650, it had become hugely overcrowded treating some 2,800 patients at any given time.

In 1772, a fire destroyed a fair amount of the structures and it was decided to rebuild Hôtel Dieu on the opposite side of Notre Dame. This building dates from 1877, and as you can denote by the interior photos is quite charming and appealing to the eye.

The original medical school of Paris was on Rue de la Bûcherie, just across the Seine in the 5th arrondissement. These two establishments were conveniently connected by the bridge, Pont au Double, still in place. Paris, by that time had also become the most sought place for medical education that attracted medical students worldwide.

I must admit while writing this post, I found my self continually sidetracked reading ancient clinical notes of famous clinicians who walked the halls of Hôtel Dieu, such as, Louis, Dupuytren,and Ambroise Paré, that thanks to modern technology, one can find online.

In reading these old medical treatises, one thing is prominently clear. Physician’s “hands on” clinical skills of observation, and physical examination were superior to what is seen today. Without lab tests, nor any means of radiological imaging, they had to rely solely on palpation and using all senses to establish any diagnosis.

A little know fact is that during the early to late 1800’s, ambitious, and often elite, young physicians from America went to Paris to enlarge the scope of their medical studies and skills, as Paris was the epitome of modern medicine, called the “Paris School”. All reveled in clinical studies under the brightest French physicians and saw patients at Hôtel Dieu, where they were allowed to examine and assist in autopsies.

Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis took many of American students under his wing. Known as the father of “evidence based medicine”, he was the first to question the value of blood-letting or “bleeding”, which was a rather generic treatment for all sorts of ailments.

Surgeon Ambroise Paré, written about in a post last august, 2012, also practiced at Hôtel Dieu and was the first to invent many surgical techniques of treating combat wounds, such as ligature of arteries used today.

Dupuytren, a very gifted surgeon and anatomist, has a wonderful and very interesting medical museum named after him in Paris, filled with the many specimums he saved from cases he saw at Hôtel Dieu. Besides being famous for surgical treatment of Napoleon’s hemorrhoids, he was a prodigious writer describing his many clinical cases, some which are translated in english.

I was introducing a friend to their hallowed halls last Sunday, when I came up with the urge to write about this incredibly significant hospital that has dutifully served the city of Paris for ages. The photos you see, I took this past Wednesday.

A little known secret, is there is a hotel, within the confounds of the hospital called the Hospitel Hôtel Dieu with very reasonable rooms, some with a view of Notre Dame. Perfect for those who want to hear close up the bells of Notre Dame, or for hypochondriacs fearful of falling ill.

Hôtel Dieu is being threatened today with doing away with the very substance of its clinical history, as serving as a hospital to the many sick who have sought healing and solace within her doors. Due to budgetary cuts, a decision was made to shut down the emergency room by this November, which has been delayed.

Currently signatures are being sought to send to the minister of health to protest this completely audacious and very destructive move. To rip out the very soul and substance of treatment that Hôtel Dieu has provided for over 1,362 years, amounts to pure and simple cultural annihilation and will cause a great deprivation of centrally located emergency care and hospitalization.

I am vehemently opposed to changing the original purpose of Hôtel Dieu, which has always been
to provide care and treatment to any and all, or as they say “un hôpital pour tous”( a hospital for all).
You can sign a petition against these changes, with this link from the mayors’ office of the 4th arrondissement. It is in French, but at the bottom is a place for your name and email. Please help save this incredible bastion of French culture and healing! http://www.mairie4.paris.fr/mairie04/jsp/site/Portal.jsp?page_id=395