Abstract
This essay examines the interrelationship between legal, medical, and public knowledge in the case of Mary Mallon. The author argues that although Mallon was never convicted of any crime, she was under the constant surveillance of medical authorities because of her characterization as a recalcitrant “typhoid carrier.” Mallon's physical body became a contested site of controversy as various medical and legal communities fought for the legitimization of their own bodies of knowledge. Modern health care theorists and practitioners still use a plethora of “Typhoid Mary” narratives in their discussions of the relationship between jurisprudence, ethics, and medicine.
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Hasian, M.A. Power, Medical Knowledge, and the Rhetorical Invention of “Typhoid Mary”. Journal of Medical Humanities 21, 123–139 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009074619421
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009074619421