Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions

Medicine

• What customs surround death and burial? Is there a special class of people (doctors, priests, funeral directors, untouchables) who deal with dead bodies?
• How accurate is the diagnostic process? Do healers have ways of telling two diseases apart if they have similar symptoms? Do healers depend on standard physical medical tests -- reflexes, temperature, contracted pupils -- or do they normally use spells for diagnosis?
• How expensive are healers? How available are such services to ordinary people?
• How much is known about anatomy, physiology, pathology, etc? Are treatments based on purely practical experience ("We know this works but we don't know why"), or do healers understand at least some of what they are doing?
• How much training does a healer normally get? Where? From whom?
• Is healing generally a magical process? If so, how does the magical healing talent work? Does a magical healer have to consciously direct the healing process (meaning that lots of knowledge of anatomy, etc., would be required), or does magical healing simply speed up the normal, unconscious healing process in the patient?
• Is there a reliable method of birth control? Who normally handles births--midwives, or doctors? What is the mortality rate for pregnant ladies, new mothers, and children?
• Who can become a healer? Are there various kinds of healers (herbalists, wisewomen, pharmacists/apothecaries, surgeons, doctors, etc.)? If so, why are distinctions made?
• What kinds of treatments are available--herbal brews, vaccinations, acupuncture, etc.? How effective are they?
• Is it possible to resurrect/resuscitate someone who has died? If so, how long is it before this becomes impossible? Before serious brain damage sets in?
• How is insanity treated? Are there asylums or treatment centers? How effective are treatments for insanity?
• How much do the physical differences between human and non-human races affect their medical treatment? Are there some diseases that only affect non-humans, or only humans? Are some treatments lethal to one species but effective in another? Do doctors have to specialize in non-human medicine in order to do a good job of it?

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