On Doctoring: New, Revised and Expanded Third Edition

Along with Bernard Lo's Resolving Ethical Dilemmas: A Guide for Clinicians, and many articles from the current medical literature, I use this book when I teach medical ethics to first- and second-year medical students. Anthologies are by nature uneven. Readers think they can out-edit the editor. So, to award an anthology five stars does not necessarily mean that the reviewer enjoys or even appreciates every selection in the book. In this case there are many selections I do not approve, but the few that I absolutely love more than compensate. Among these are poignant stories by patients like Anatole Broyard and physicians like Richard Selzer, Abraham Verghese, and Lewis Thomas. Narratives that convey the angst and awkwardness of the physician/patient relationship are important for young doctors to internalize. Prose narratives are more approachable than poetry, and narratives written by either doctors or patients in first person are more credible than those written in third person by third parties, such as novelists. I hope that the next edition of this book will contain proportionately less poetry, more non-fiction, more first-person physicians' accounts of their loneliness (e.g., in the work of Deborah Bradshaw, M.D.), and more first-person patients' accounts of their suffering, anger, disgust, and occassional gratitude.

A nice collection for anyone interested in all things medical. It makes a nice reference book!

...the science of health. The art and science of the human spirit.These are given every year to first year students by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and in my opinion, it is like a trusted physician's black bag in which you have the practitioner's stethoscope and blood pressure cuff and plenty of simple pharmacies for a house call--one in which the doctor is not in a hurry to run.Let not the title catch the layperson off kilter--it's chocked full of good stuff for the rest of us humans who just like to read classic and near-classic works. Like some of my favorites: Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Dickinson, Larynx by Neruda, House Calls by Lewis Thomas and A Summer Tragedy by Arna Bontemps. There's a superb essay on wonder and the evolution of the human spirit by Melvin Konner. There's a Vonnegutian reworking of Frankenstein ( "a crass medical genius" with my real supervisor's first name--I'm grinning as I type this). There's a Chekhov piece on the loss of hope and sadness when one loses a child. Then there's copies of art--Munch, Rockwell, Fildes. Plus, lots, lots more.First year medical students who usually are to busy to read anything for enjoyment, are missing out on a great collection if they don't stop to smell some of these literary roses. We lay folk with a taste for a great read or two will take us this slack and pass the word on how superb is this collection.

Reynolds, Stone and (new to this edition) Nixon have produced an almost magical book. I've used the previous two editions of this anthology in a seminar with third-year law students and fourth-year medical students ("Law, Literature & Medicine") and look forward to using this new edition in 2002. The impressive literary range represented here -- from the ancients to the most modern (including a little gem from an 11-year-old poet) -- captures the perspectives of patient, healer, family member and others who must deal with illness or death. Many of the classics are collected here (Dylan Thomas (Do not go gently), John Donne (Death be not proud), O.W. Holmes (The Stethoscope). In addition, the editors' command of modern texts -- especially short stories and poems -- gives fresh voice to up-to-the-minute versions of ancient concerns. This book gives new meaning, and new signficance, to the idea of "the art of medicine." Anyone who is facing or may face illness or death, or knows someone else who will face these inevitabilities (that is: ALL OF US) will be enriched by this unique and valuable collection.

An amazing glimpse into the world of medicine.. this book isn't just for medical student but for everyone. There isn't a single person alive who hasn't lost a loved one, or been through ones own or others illness... a must read for those looking for perspective