Doctors against judges: the responsibility and incapacity of individuals in interdiction trials in Puebla del Porfiriato

Abstract

The debate that took place between the physicians and judges regardless of other people who participated in the sanity hearings in Puebla during the Porfiriato led the mentally ill people to have two fates: the family household or the mental hospitals. In those it can be noticed that, regardless of existing a scientific acknowledgement, the one who had the last word was always the judge who ascertained the interdiction of the person. However, this questioning has made us think that the times and shapes, and the scientific guidance of the physicians themselves, made the reports could have been confusing enough for the judge during the time to make the final call.