«Usines à Guerir» de la electro-radiología a los centros anticancerosos. Transformaciones tecnológicas y pensamiento administrativo en la lucha anticancerosa francesa

Abstract

In this paper I will analyse the implementation of radiation technologies in the inter-war French hospital system to treat cancer patients. This process was not only due to the development of laboratory medicine but also oriented by what has been recently called «industrial medicine». This alignment with the principals of a managerial culture in the introduction of radiation technologies, transformed the hospital organisation, the division of labour and the responsibilities shared by central and local governments. The new organisational policies not only changed medical care but particularly shaped the approach to cancer. Resulting in doctors consigning cancer patients to strict treatments protocolised by the radiotherapy production line.