# The Doctor — How the Other Half Lives character guide

> The Doctor in How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** the doctor, The doctor

**First appearance:** 0019-xv-the-problem-of-the-children

## Who they are

A medical professional who appears in scenes of illness or reform.

## In the story

### [II: The Awakening](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/ii-the-awakening)

A well-known physician is quoted describing the foul air in tenements.

### [VI: The Bend](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/vi-the-bend)

A doctor's thermometer recorded 115°F in a room where a dying baby lay near the stove, highlighting the extreme heat and lack of ventilation.

### [X: Jewtown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/x-jewtown)

A doctor is mentioned attending to victims of a tenement fire, discovering a baby had been smothered.

### [XII: The Bohemians—Tenement-House Cigarmaking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xii-the-bohemians-tenement-house-cigarmaking)

Cited as attributing a case of consumption to tobacco-fume inhalation in a Bohemian cigarmaker.

### [Waifs of the City’s Slums](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xvi-waifs-of-the-city-s-slums)

Mentioned in relation to signing death certificates for babies who died on baby farms.

### [XXI: Pauperism in the Tenements](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xxi-pauperism-in-the-tenements)

A wise and charitable physician who notes the rarity of permanent improvement among poor tenement families.

### [XXII: The Wrecks and the Waste](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/chapters/xxii-the-wrecks-and-the-waste)

The doctor accompanies the narrator and provides insights into the emotional numbness of tenement mothers who cannot afford to grieve for their dead children.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/characters/the_doctor
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/how_the_other_half_lives_se/characters