[Paris hospitals budget in 1848, from charity to care]

Paris hospitals budget is, in the year 1848, the last before the "Assistance Publique" foundation. 1848 is characterized by important political troubles in Paris and an increased hospital activity. Nevertheless, the budget could suggest a certain wealth. Receipts are mainly based on financial funding and real estate incomes. Expenses are, for one half, linked to patients considered as hosts: food, heating, cleaning, etc. Staff expenses are moderate (12%). Various expenditures are in the same range within the different hospitals. It is interesting to outline the fact that drug expenses have the same importance than 150 years later: 4%. This feature is only an average insofar as general hospital spend about 10% of their budget in drugs as long-term care hospitals spend 1%. This disparity is clearly the proof of an increasing medicalization of Paris hospitals in the middle of the 19th century.