Rx Medical Philanthropy p.r.n. [as the need arises]

For 145 years the "Medical Benevolent" has helped hundreds of distressed practitioners and their families. However, recipients of benevolence have been a small percentage of the medical profession - with 812 registered doctors in 1892 and 22,000 in 2010, there has rarely been more than three dozen beneficiaries at any given time, often far fewer. How could the Victorian Medical Benevolent Association endure for so long when there appeared to be so little need for it?

This book searches for the answer by exploring 150 years of charitable giving and what that meant to the givers and receivers; the many discussions in the medical press about conditions of life and practice for doctors; the cases that came before the committee over one and a half centuries; and the Association's attitudes towards these doctors and their families.

Victorian Medical Benevolent Association, 2012

With Vicky Ryan