ABSTRACT
According to the doctors, their crisis was characterized by loss of status, difficulties in finding clients and making a living, and unwanted changes in traditional medical practices. Medical advances had resulted in the increased use of hospitals, and a plethora of new public services including disinfection, dispensaries, and sanatoriums. To private practitioners it seemed that these changes would hurt the profession by usurping clienteles and increasing the state's role in medical care. The battle against hospitals, dispensaries and clinics was one of the strongest efforts of the Union movement. The Union doctors argued that while treatment of the poor in hospitals was necessary and even desirable, hospital administration should put tighter controls on who was cared for. French doctors had long feared that they would all eventually become state civil servants. The Union movement was dedicated to preserving the principle of medical care through private contract between doctor and client.
