[Medical Knowledge in Accident Insurance : Assessing "Pneumatic Tool Damages" at the Bergmannsheil Hospital, 1929-1944]. / Medizinisches Wissen in der Unfallversicherung : Die Begutachtung von "Preßluftschäden" im Krankenhaus Bergmannsheil, 1929­1944.

The article focuses on one central element of medical activity in the context of the German social insurance system: providing expert assessments in accident pension cases. Taking an example from interwar coal mining, it aims to reconstruct how social policy makers first conceived of "pneumatic tool damages" as occupational disease and how trauma surgeons had to deal with this new entity of social law once it had been institutionalized in 1929. Drawing on physicians' publications as well as archival sources from the supreme court in social insurance, the Reichsversicherungsamt, the article examines how the controversial generation of new knowledge took place. It argues that medical knowledge was neither simply applied to administration and law nor was it compromised by the necessity to adjust it to those fields of decision-making. Expert medical opinions should instead be understood as a specific form of medical knowledge.

[Wiplash injury and "railway spine"]. / Schleudertrauma und ,,railway spine" (I). Die Verantwortung von Arzten und Psychologen: Versicherungsmedizinische Bedeutung somatofomer Störungen und ihre Abgrenzung zur posttraumatischen Belastungsstörung.

Although post-traumatic stress disorder was only recently admitted into the international classification systems, psychological reactions to traumatic incidents have been frequently described for more than 100 years. The article deals with the mental reactions to a trauma in different historical situations. Included are the "railway spine" injuries of the 19th century, victims of accidents where third party liability could be claimed, accident insurance, the psychological consequences of National Socialism and whiplash injury. The analysis suggests that different reactions don't describe an identical disorder. It seems that reactions to injuries are mainly influenced by the historical and social background and the fact of beeing insured.

["Post-traumatic stress disorder"--historical aspects of a "modern" psychiatric illness in the German language areas]. / Die "posttraumatische Belastungsstörung"--historische Aspekte einer "modernen" psychischen Erkrankung im deutschen Sprachraum.

Although posttraumatic stress disorder has only recently been admitted into the international classification systems, psychological reactions to traumatic incidents have been frequently described for well over a hundred years. This article provides an overview of mental reactions to a trauma in different historical situations. It discusses the "railway spine injuries" of the 19th century, victims of accidents in which third party liability could be established, and the psychological consequences of the catastrophes that characterised the 20th century: World War I, the rule of National Socialism, World War II, the expulsion and persecution of political opponents in the former GDR. The analysis suggests that the different psychological reactions do not describe an identical disorder. It seems that reactions to injuries are mainly influenced by the historical and social background.

[The case that did not serve to enhance the reputation of the doctors involved]. / Sagen som "ikke tjente til de deltagende laegers aere".

A complicated and long action for damages is outlined after the train accident in Bramming, Western Jutland, July 1913, where 15 passengers died and 16 passengers were seriously injured. The case came to last for two years, especially due to one doctor's exorbitant fee charged for the treatment of three foreign patients. By this, the doctor came in conflict with his colleagues and the local medical association and filed a suit against the state, which he lost. The case exposed an avaricious doctor and weak collegiate opposition.

The role of insurance in the prevention of work-related accidents in France in the first half of the 20th century.

Insurance has played a role in the develoment of prevention of work-related accidents in several ways in France since the industrical revolution. The first attempts at prevention were taken at the initiative of manufacturers' associations, but it remained a matter of goodwill for manufacturers. The 1898 law gave systematic, if partial, financial responsability for occupational hazards to employers, who turned to insurance companies to carry the risks. As a result a new branch of insurance (assurance-loi) appeared, which accounted for 40% of general accident revenue for companies at the time of World War II. But the new law made no mention of prevention and even had a negative impact, since compensation was taken care of by insurance. However, after World War I, insurance companies created an association for the prevention of work-related accidents and illnesses and started to adjust rates according to the prevention efforts of corporations. When social insurance was generalized in 1946, insurance of occupational hazards went under state control and became compulsory. But the experience accumulated in the field of prevention by insurance companies was put to use in this new context, both on the technical side and the financial side.

[Traffic accidents from the social medicine viewpoint--a medical history connection with present time]. / Verkehrsunfälle aus sozialmedizinischer Sicht--Ein medizinhistorischer Brückenschlag.

A historically excursus seems sometimes useful to overlook actually problems in medicine. The example of the railway accidents shows the problems of the medical appraisal with regard to the consequences of an accident. After initiation of a third party insurance in Germany 1871 with reference to the new means of transportation a lot of people tried to get a compensation after imaginary or real injury following a railway accident. Very soon physicians had to give an expert's opinion on the complaints of those concerned. 1879 Rigler and 1918 Horn published monographs regarding this problem. Apart of real impairments very often complaints had no organic reason. Oppenheim introduced 1889 the concept of "traumatic neurosis". The scientific discussion remained in the following decades and finally it was rejected until to our times. Today the terms "posttraumatic stress disorder", "psychogenic pain disorder" or "adjustment disorder" are valid. In present times the problem of the whiplash injuries takes the place of the railway accidents. Here also are either organic reasons discussed or psychogenic reactions presumed. The modern techniques in neuroimaging and neuropsychology are inconsistent and the results not generally accepted. In the individual case they are often little helpful. The medicolegal problems are still important and often reason for prolonged forensic confrontations. The discussions more than 100 years ago seem nowadays still actual. The terms have changed, the problems remain.

[Expert assessment of railroad accidents at the beginning of the industrial age--a medical historical excursion with reference to current circumstances]. / Die Begutachtung der Eisenbahnunfälle am Beginn des Industriezeitalters--Ein medizinhistorischer Exkurs mit Bezug zur Gegenwart.

A historical excursus seems sometimes useful to overlook actual problems in medicine. The example of the railway accidents shows the problems of the medical appraisal with regard to the consequences of an accident. After initiation of a third party insurance in Germany 1871 with reference to the new means of transportation a lot of people tried to get a compensation after imaginary or real injury following a railway accident. Very soon physicians had to give an expert's opinion on the complaints of those concerned. 1879 Rigler and 1918. Horn published monographs regarding this problems. Apart of real impairments very often complaints had no organic reasons. Oppenheim introduced 1889 the concept of "traumatic neurosis". The scientific discussion remained in the following decades and finally it was rejected until to our times. Today the terms "posttraumatic stress disorder", "psychogenic pain disorder" or "adjustment disorder" are valid. The discussions more than 100 years ago seem nowadays still actual. The terms have changed, the problems remain.

[Development of loss-of-limb coverage in private accident insurance]. / Entwicklung der Gliedertaxe in der privaten Unfallversicherung.

The oldest known private accident insurance is recorded in the maritime law of Wisby of 1541. Defoe is the first to propose a compensation scale for loss of limbs in the 17th century. It is taken over in a modified character by all insurance companies being founded in Europe and North America since 1850. The structure of the present insurance conditions originates in the conditions of 1920. Since then the loss of the right and left upper limb is rated equally. The compensation scale is changed again in 1961, the loss of extremities is valued higher and the loss of sense of smelling and tasting is considered.