Why do you suppose Lucius was so intrigued by Horvath's condition, in particular? Why were he and the staff so invested in Horvath's recovery?

Why do you suppose Lucius was so intrigued by Horvath's condition, in particular? Why were he and the staff so invested in Horvath's recovery?

He was still a medical student of sorts and he had not come across this new disease, born of the war, in any of the textbooks he had read, or military manuals, or heard any mention of it from the Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Wagner-Jauregg. All he knew was told to him by the orderlies Brosz and Berman. Lucius viewed it as a mystery that needed to be explored. Once Lucius and his staff started trying different treatments and saw improvement they were all awestruck. It's no wonder they wanted to see the end result of this new found treatment that they were all a part of. Lucius wrote to Feuermann stating "What was happening seems nothing less than a resurrection" and he felt that what was important at that moment was that he should watch, study carefully, and learn.

It was a medical condition which was new to them. A mystery for Lucius, “Something beneath the skin, imperceptible, waiting to be found.” The staff’s aim was to find a cure for Nervenshock.
It would be the glory of discovery for all, something that would make Lucius proud to be a part of, being that he was the one that started treating Horváth with Veronal.

Lucius was fascinated with medicine, research, and the mystery of what we now call PTSD. Horvath came to them in a cart, very near death. The fact that he, Marguarite and the other staff slowly brought him to life, was almost a miracle in Lucius mind. His use of Veronal had seemed to work wonders and he took great pride in his role. I think he yearned to make a mark and this was a means to help so many if he could continue his research/experiment with Horvath. He and the others also came to care for Horvath as a person.

Again, I agree that Horvath's condition was one with which Lucius was unfamiliar. As a dedicated doctor he wanted to learn and he wanted to cure his patient. The fact that the treatment they hit upon was bringing about improvement would have been exciting and given him a sense of accomplishment. To see a patient improve is reassuring and makes you proud to be a physician.

I think that Lucius was intrigued because the whole concept of "shell shock" (what is now called PTSD) was new to the world. As WWI was the first mechanized war (think tanks, machine guns) and there was a use of nerve and mustard gasses to quell the enemy, people who had never experienced this kind of warfare before were extremely terrorized by the change. There were no guidelines in his medical text books to help Lucius either diagnose or treat this malady.

The staff was invested in Horvath's recovery as he actually responded to some treatment. He responded to both Margarete and to the medication that Lucius gave him. Lucius was, no doubt, hoping to bring him further along in his recovery but that didn't happen because of the subsequent events.

As others have said it was medically new territory with the suffering they were seeing with "shellshock". His interest in the dual methods of Veronal and individual care by the nurse was what might amount to new medical history. Any doctor would have wanted to continue the research and not able to understand the bullying and harsh mistreatment from the military that they witnessed.

In the beginning of the book, he met with Marie Curie who, with Sigmund Freud were working on an x-ray which could "see into the mind." Because he suspected that Horwath suffered from the yet unnamed disease which we now know as PTSD, and what was assumed to be cowardice, he concentrated on trying to cure him.

It was something new to Lucius. He wanted to learn more. I did not see where Horvath was actually a person in Lucicus eyes. I felt if he truly care about Horvath's well being he would have let him go. Horvath was a puzzle to them.

Although Lucius was still a medical student he was ahead of his time. He knew Horvath’s condition was something they’d never encountered before. He thought he could find cure - not for his own benefit - but in the name of medicine & specially for this patient. I can only imagine how each of them felt as he improved.