Professional freedom and illegal practice of medicine: the case of the healer Eduardo Silva

• Autor(a) principal: Rocha, Rafael Rosa da
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Mundos do Trabalho
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/mundosdotrabalho/article/view/75223

This article analyzes how the cases related to professional freedom in medicine unfolded in the early years of the First Republic, a context in which a new Penal Code and a new Constitutional Charter were elaborated in order to sophisticate and renew the Empire’s regulatory mechanisms. To this end, we analyzed the criticisms made by a journalist from a Rio de Janeiro newspaper against the sentence of the renowned judge Viveiros de Castro on the case of the healer Juvêncio Serafim, a black tailor who manipulated with roots and powders, putting in perspective how the interpretation of the judge was innovative in view of the readingsthat were made on legal provisions. In addition, we analyzed the survey by engineer and healer Eduardo Silva who practiced laying on his hands, was white, literate, had financial resources and a robust network of relationships. The objective is to contribute to the historiographical debate about professional freedom, presenting some perspectives on the issue and how white and black people were treated by the judicial apparatus when they were indicted for the illegal practice of medicine.