1815 Necker Hospital Medical Discharge Manuscript Note from Dr. Hanquent

On offer is an excellent example of a medical discharge note from the famed French Necker Hospital in early 19th century France. This medical discharge note is written on the letterhead of “HOPITAL DE MADAME NECKER”.

The letter is a medical release form from the hospital. It confirms that a Madame Harrcourt was a patient at the hospital:

Le Medicine en chef, soussigue, certifie que Mme Marie Madelaine Harrcourt age de 70 ans entree au dit hospital le 24me juillet 1814 [ ] pour une []...

[Translation: The Chief Medical Officer, undersigned, certifies that Mrs. Marie Madelaine Harrcourt, 70 years old, entered the said hospital on July 24th 1814 [ ] for a []...]

It goes on to say that she is an invalid who will need constant care. It recommends he be moved to a hospice that can provide such care. The letter is signed by Doctor N. Hanquent.

Necker Hospital was founded in 1778 by Suzanne Necker, (wife of France’s Minister of Finance, Jacques Necker) Jacques Necker was a leader in the movement to reform crowded hospitals by building smaller treatment centres closer to the patients' neighbourhoods. Madame Necker subsequently remodeled an old monastery into the hospital which, prior to the French Revolution, was known as the Hospice de Charité. Male and female patients were kept separate from each other, as many hospitals of the time did. Triage procedures, established all over Paris in 1802, systematically excluded pregnant women, the mentally ill, and venereal patients. Patients were divided into four categories: fever, malignant fever, surgical, and convalescent.

This is an excellent example of the type of documentation that was established and maintained by the medical system that was developing in Paris in the early 19th century.

The letter measures 8.5 inches by 6.0 inches and is a single sheet of paper. The page is in very good condition. The handwriting is tight but legible.