BENDRUOMENĖS GYDYTOJO INSTITUTO SAMPRATA SENOVĖSGRAIKIJOJE IR ROMOJE

Abstract

The article examines the development of the public physician institution in ancient Greece and its subsequent continuation in Roman law. The creation of this institution shows the first efforts of the authorities to ensure the availability of medical services. It can be considered the origins of the modern state’s responsibility to provide healthcare. In both ancient Greece and Rome, the training of physicians was fragmented, and there was no established system for recognizing qualifications or granting licenses to practice. To protect citizens from charlatans, public authorities had to create a mechanism that allowed them to select, according to the medical standards of the time, a competent physician to serve as a public doctor. Public selection and the physician’s reputation thus became decisive elements in this process. The article also discusses the aspect of remuneration for medical services and the transformation of the concept of medicine from the Greek technē, understood more as a craft, to the Roman ars liberalis (liberal art) as an intellectual and ethical practice, subject to higher standards of professional conduct. This article aims to demonstrate that the fundamental ideas of the public physician institution that emerged in ancient Greece and Rome can be considered the origins of the modern state’s responsibility to care for people’s health and provide medical assistance, inter alia, ensuring the availability of medical services, guaranteeing the competence of doctors, and establishing professional liability for damage caused.