Hospitals in Golarion

[Samasboy1]

So, I was looking over some of my Eberron stuff, specifically how House Jorasco has taken over the healing trade from temples. Temples still heal people, but mostly only members of their faith/congregation. Most people, if they can afford healing, go to a secular hospital run by Jorasco.

That made me think, there are non-divine healing sources in Golarion, do you think anyone has opened a non-religion based hosptial?

Alchemy seems the most likely basis for this kind of an enterprise.

I am not saying these hospitals would supplant churches as the primary source of healing, but do you think they exist?

[Shadowkire]

In Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition the town of Sandpoint has a hospital, no magic/alchemy, just Heal check type stuff.

I think it is because magic is so expensive, to get Remove Disease cast it costs 150gp minimum. So regular hospitals help people who can't afford those prices.

[Deadmanwalking]

Shadowkire wrote:

In Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition the town of Sandpoint has a hospital, no magic/alchemy, just Heal check type stuff.

I think it is because magic is so expensive, to get Remove Disease cast it costs 150gp minimum. So regular hospitals help people who can't afford those prices.

Or people who could do so theoretically, but only by spending a huge fraction of their yearly income.

[Samasboy1]

Yes, I think most of the staff would be Experts, with Heal and various Knowledges.

But in Rahadoum (due to lack of divine magic) and Thuvia (due to being a center of Alchemical learning), I think a alchemical hospice would be a good replacement for the standard temple for healing.

I also think they could be appropriate for other metropolitan centers with the idea of a healing as a profession, rather than stemming from belief, could be seen as a "civilized" or "progressive" view point. "No need for superstition to enter into medicine, we are a modern country that approach medicine with science!"

Also, Alkenstar, with its focus on technology and position in the Mana Wastes, seems a good location.

I imagine Chirurgeons, Vivisectionists ("Surgeons"), and Internal Alchemists (infectious disease specialists) as the doctors; Experts as nurses and orderlies.

[Cpt_kirstov]

there's also Roots and Remedies in Falcon's Hollow, which is trusted more than the local cleric

[Changing Man]

That sounds more than feasible, and I would imagine practically every burg would at least have some kind of local healer in their midst (ie., non-caster with skills in Herbalism, Healing, etc.).

In one of my current campaigns one of the players has built his character to be a sort of 'military field medic' - skills in Profession:Soldier, Healing, etc., and he carries a large pavilion tent and two healer's kits in his big backpack (to set up a temporary hospital wherever it is needed). The character is a Half-Giant (from Dreamscarred Press), so he gets away with hauling a lot of stuff.

Granted, he's also a Divine Caster (Inquisitor of Desna, NG), but he saves his spells for the worst ailments that come along (or has usually burned through them throughout the day on the other PC's).

[Jeven]

Countries with more mercenary religions are also more likely to have non-caster hospices to take care of the average person (a peasant's life-savings probably wouldn't amount to more than a handful of gold).
Not everyone in Cheliax is wealthy enough to purchase healing from a priest of Asmodeus, or in Nidal from a priest of Zon-Kuthon, or even a temple of Abadar in a Taldan town.

Of course, good nations like Andoran and Lastwall, have the advantage of free health care from beneficent priesthoods. Although even there it might be rationed, as the ratio of common folk to priests might be off - much like there is a shortage of trained doctors in Third World countries in the real world.

[Louis Lyons]

I imagine that many good religions would provide healing magic for free (although not spells that require material components or magical items). In fact, a cleric of a good god like Sarenrae who refused to heal someone on condition of payment might end up waking up one morning finding that his Goddess stripped him of his divine mandate and the powers that went along with it.

As far as what non-divine healing centers such as hospitals would look like, I imagine they would look very much like the Bimaristans of medieval Persia and Syria, which were paid for by the Caliphs. Bimaristans had separated bedrooms to segregate those with various diseases and illnesses from those with only physical injuries. They had paid doctors and surgeons on staff, as well as pharmacies and well-stocked dispensaries where the sick would be prescribed medicine based on their maladies.

I am sure that countries such Qadira would have several such hospitals (especially with the Goddess of Healing being their main religion), as would Andoran and Cheliax.

I also imagine that some nations such as Andoran and Cheliax would also have military hospitals for their heroic wounded and aged veterans (think Les Invalides of France).

[Samasboy1]

That's a good point. A lot of the time when alchemical/magic healing is mentioned, the cost is a sticking point since most people couldn't afford it.

But government run facilities, either as charity for the less fortunate or a type of reward for service, have lots of present and past support. And the idea of religious charity is also prevalent.

[Deadmanwalking]

I'd imagine that, much like real doctors, even the most generous and benevolent faiths will charge you for services you can clearly afford. They need to eat, after all, and temples don't (usually) build themselves.

This doesn't mean they won't treat the poor for free (they almost certainly will), but it's the likely way things would work and keeps the PCs from b%~~#ing about not receiving free healing.

[Mystic_Snowfang]

Inner Sea gods suggests that Serenre's temples offers healing for free, since it does say that people who seek such things at Abadar's temples are pointed in the direction of Serenre's temples.

I'm thinking that Kuthonites might offer "healing" services for "free"... if you're okay with no pain control during your pocedure and coming out with very large scars, and watching your "doctor" getting off on the whole thing...

[Jeven]

Mystic_Snowfang wrote:

I'm thinking that Kuthonites might offer "healing" services for "free"... if you're okay with no pain control during your pocedure and coming out with very large scars, and watching your "doctor" getting off on the whole thing...

Thematic pricing is a cool idea. Abadar could demand a price in gold, Sarenrae in confessions, Zon-Kuthon in pain, Asmodeus in innocuous-seeming oaths, Shelyn in beautiful offerings (flowers, a song, etc), Irori in meditations, etc.

If you are not a worshiper of the god the price might be psychologically steeper - a good person would not want to seek healing from a priest of Asmodeus if the price is oaths to the devil, and similarly an evil person might not want to confess their sins (under the watch of truth magic) to a priest of Sarenrae.