The Medical Exclusion of an Immigrant to the United States of America in the Early Twentieth Century. The Case of Cristina Imparato
The Medical Exclusion of an Immigrant to the United States of America in the Early Twentieth Century. The Case of Cristina Imparato
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二十世纪初美国移民的医疗排斥。
DOI：
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发表时间：
2008
影响因子：
5.9
通讯作者：
G. Imperato
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
P. Imperato;G. Imperato
对19世纪末20世纪初抵达美国的移民进行医疗检查是因为需要快速处理大量人员。当时的科学医学从属于现行的移民法，反映了优生学和本土主义的强大反移民力量的影响。移民被排成一列纵队，便于快速处理。当时的美国公共卫生署领导人称赞这种瞬间的医学凝视是科学合理的，因为它是基于检查公共卫生医生的所谓特殊疾病检测技能。事实上，这一制度存在严重缺陷，导致了许多诊断错误，并且没有任何形式的公共成果评估或问责制。随着时间的推移，沙眼成为一线医生的主要关注点，因为他们相信它很容易被发现，那些被诊断出患有沙眼的人立即被驱逐出境。然而，这种疾病的早期阶段的诊断要复杂得多，因为它必须与其他形式的良性结膜炎相鉴别。这里描述的是克里斯蒂娜·因帕拉托的案例，她是一名46岁的移民，1910年9月27日从意大利来到纽约，被诊断出患有沙眼，三天后，1910年9月30日，她被立即驱逐出境。她的案例说明了当时围绕移民问题起作用的复杂力量。其中包括需要满足不断扩大的产业的劳动力需求，同时回应优生学支持者和本土主义者的移民限制要求，以及保护国家免受进口疾病威胁的呼吁。
The medical inspection of immigrants arriving in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was framed by a need to rapidly process large numbers of people. Scientific medicine, such as it was then, was subordinate to the existing immigration laws which reflected the influences of the powerful anti-immigration forces of eugenics and nativism. The line, or single-file queues in which immigrants were arranged, facilitated rapid processing. The split-second medical gaze was hailed by the then leadership of the U.S. Public Health Service as scientifically sound, based as it was on the alleged exceptional disease detection skills of examining public health physicians. In reality, this system was seriously flawed, led to numerous diagnostic errors, and was free of any form of public outcomes assessment or accountability. In time, trachoma became the principal focus of line physicians because of the belief that it could be easily detected, and those diagnosed with it summarily deported. However, the diagnosis of the early stages of this disease is far more complex since it must be differentiated from other forms of benign conjunctivitis. Described here is the case of Cristina Imparato, a 46-year-old immigrant who arrived in New York from Italy on September 27, 1910, and who was given a diagnosis of trachoma which resulted in her summary deportation three days later on September 30, 1910. Her case serves to illustrate the complex forces at work at that time around the issue of immigration. These included a need to meet the labor needs of expanding industries while responding to the immigration restriction demands of eugenics supporters and nativists and the call to protect the country from imported disease threats.