Born in
Horowitz, Bohemia | Hořovice, Czechia
Died in
Mödling, Austria
1887–1896 director of the General Hospital of Vienna (Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus)
| Honor | Title | Faculty | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monument | Denkmal AKH-Direktoren |
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Karl Böhm was born in Bohemia in 1827, the son of district administrator Josef Böhm and his wife Elisabeth Böhm, née Hofmann. He completed his secondary education in Pilsen and studied philosophy at university, before beginning medical studies at the University of Vienna in 1846. He received his doctorate in medicine and surgery on October 23, 1851.
He then worked as a military doctor in Trento (Tyrol [Italy]) and later in Verona [Austrian Lombardia [Italy]. In 1853, he returned to Vienna and became an assistant at the military medical academy Josephinum, in 1859 a lecturer and head of the surgical department of militay hospital "Garnisonspital No. 1", and in 1864 an associate professor of clinical surgery at the Josephinum, but left military service in 1865.
He moved to the civilian hospital Rudolfsstiftung in Vienna, where he was director from 1870, and after about a decade and a half, in 1887, he followed Josef Raimund Hoffmann and was appointed director of the largest hospital in Vienna, the Vienna General Hospital. During his tenure, the Third Medical Clinic was rebuilt and, in 1892, the corresponding lecture hall with central heating was built in Courtyard 2. Operating rooms were set up in the two gynecological clinics and an outpatient clinic was established at the Second Eye Clinic. This period also saw the dissolution of the upper administration and materials management and the subordination of the AKH to the Vienna Hospital Fund of the Lower Austrian Governor's Office.
In 1893, he successfully coped with the enormous demands posed by a cholera epidemic in Vienna and promoted electrification, including at the Institute of Pathological Anatomy, as well as switching the expensive supply of medicines to in-house management (production, storage, administration, and distribution). Heating and ventilation were improved in the hospital wards, as were the toilet facilities for patients. Steam and disinfection systems were installed, as well as a laundry for infectious laundry. He retired in 1896.
He rendered outstanding services to the improvement of hygiene standards in various military and civilian hospitals and was also committed to improving heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in the monumental buildings of Vienna's Ringstrasse, such as the Imperial Opera Hous, the Imperial Theater (Burgtheater), the two imperial Art History Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Main Uiversity Building.
He also published on numerous topics related to medical care.
In 1869, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph, and in 1886, the Order of the Iron Crown, Third Class. He was a member of the Supreme Medical Council from 1897, was appointed court councilor in 1889 during his tenure as director of the AKH, and was elevated to the nobility in 1891 as “Edler von Böhmersheim.”
His name can be found on the “Monument to the Directors of the General Hospital” on the second floor of the Stöckel Building (former AKH administration building) in Courtyard 1 on the University of Vienna campus.
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