Eroismo medico tra rappresentazione istituzionale e rivendicazione epistemica

Journal title SALUTE E SOCIETÀ
Author/s Enrico Maria Piras
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/3
Language Italian Pages 17 P. 25-41 File size 357 KB
DOI 10.3280/SES2026-003003
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This article explores the role of medical heroism as a means of professional legitimization during the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing two main representations: the institutional and the epistemic. Institutional heroism, promoted by the media and institutions, highlights the resilience of the healthcare system, often concealing structural shortcomings. Epistemic heroism, on the other hand, emerges from self-organized communities of doctors, who have faced the crisis with courage, experimentation, and the generation of knowledge from the grassroots. Through a historical and empirical analysis, this study highlights how the heroic narrative has helped legitimize medical action, but has also raised tensions between representations from outside and within the healthcare community.

Keywords: medical heroism; pandemic; dispositive; general practice; metaphors; early treatment networks.

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Enrico Maria Piras, Eroismo medico tra rappresentazione istituzionale e rivendicazione epistemica in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" 3/2026, pp 25-41, DOI: 10.3280/SES2026-003003