Customer Reviews

Kill as Few Patients as Possible: And 56 Other Essays on How to Be the World's Best Doctor

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Dr London provides 57 vignettes peppered with his dry humor and eloquence. Each is only a few pages, making for good "bathroom reading". Overall, the book is a must-read for young doctors and medical students. These pearls provide the benefits of his experience and insight in an entertaining and easily digestable format. Some are light, some serious, all are instructive in the qualities modern physicians should strive to embody.

If you're looking for the perfect gift for the newly med grad, this is certainly it!! You can't put down this book; you start off smiling and you soon end up laughing so hard that if you read it at night you'll probably wake up everybody. Although patients might get a few laughs as well, the book is really meant for doctors and each of the 57 rules to live by are absolutely true. London (a pseudonym), himself an M.D. and self-appointed W.B.D. (world's best doctor), is a seasoned writer and delivers good advice for the rocky road of medicine. I reread it whenever things get tough and I always feel refreshed. Excellent book!!

AS A PRACTICING PHYSICIAN I READ THIS PERSONALIZED ESSAY COLLECTION PERIODICALLY JUST TO BRING MYSELF BACK TO EARTH. WE TEND TO BELIEVE THE HYPE AND BEHAVE TOO GOD-LIKE. LONDON PROVIDES A BREATH OF FRESH AIR WE ALL NEED FROM TIME TO TIME.

Oh geez, I have never laughed so hard. This guy is definitely one of the funniest doctors and columnists that ever existed. I needed something to lighten the research I am doing currently on eugenics and the deaf community for my dissertation, and this book fit the bill. London, if that is really his name, had a capacity to see the humorous and explain it to the general public in such a way, that we see the the situation as he perceives it. That is the sign of a great writer. He also obviously takes his whole profession with a large grain of salt, which is so widely missing in most physicians. It's like the teach LackofHumor 101 in medical schools...they are not allowed to be funny or see anything funny in what they do. Thank heavens London does not feel that way, or we would be missing some major yuks! London is a verbal slap-stick version of a doctor, along the line of the Three Stooges and Andy Rooney mixed together. I totally plan on making some of my doctor friends read this so they get a sense of humor! Karen Sadler, Science education, University of Pittsburgh

If only more doctors could be like Dr. London...A healthy dose of humor and a heartful of compassion. He tells his stories from his side of the bedside (so to speak...)taking you inside the profession - and not taking himself to seriously. Yet, you always know that he takes caring for his patients quite seriously. Dr. London's unique, frank, intelligently funny anecdotes are even funnier when read outloud. His book should be required reading for all med students. He's not afraid to demystify the mysterious world of medicine, reminding us we are all frail humans and the more we laugh through life, the better -and that includes laughing at ourselves.

I am a physician, so reading Dr. London's semihumorous review of how he has survived the vagaries of office practice and been an advocate for his patients has been a confirmation of some of my own prejudices. Some of his revelations, such the fact that physicians don't know everything nor diagnose every disease accurately, may come as a shock to some people. Medicine involves one imperfect human being caring for a series of similarly flawed people who happen to be sick and distressed by their illness. It's a miracle, given the variability of illness, and the tendency of patients to deviate from the "textbook" descriptions, that we save as many as we do. The book injects a needed reality into the mysterious world of office practice, which is far different from the hospital environment usually dramatized on TV.

It's a worthwhile addition to the popular medical literature; it won't tell you how to cure your ulcer or stave off a heart attack, but it will tell you what makes your doctor tick. Bravo, Dr. London!

Though I am a non-physician health care professional, I think non-medical people will enjoy this book as well. I laughed so hard I cried, as did the friends to whom I was reading.

I became positive my father had written this book during Dr. Arlan Cohn's (aka Oscar London, M.D., W.B.D.) discussion of office music: "If [a doctor] wants to destroy his practice, he might consider bringing in an accordion player. (One night at a restaurant, I reached out and plunged my dinner knife into the bellows of an approaching accordion; the stricken look on the player's face when the wind was knocked out of his "Lady of Spain" was well worth the price of damages.)"

Okay, so my father is a deceased dentist and Dr. Cohn is a 70-something internist, but these men were psychic twins. This book snaps, crackles, and pops--to borrow the author's phrase when comparing chiropractors to breakfast cereal--although by the end of it, I still hadn't decided whether I'd want Dr. Cohn to be my internist. He underprescribes pain medications for fear of turning his patients and himself into junkies, but on the other hand (bless you, Dr. Cohn!) he treats gas and lower back pain. Most internists--well, their eyes glaze over if you complain about gas or lower back pain.

Incidentally, the W.B.D. after this author's name stands for "World's Best Doctor" and in this book he shares fifty-seven short essays on how you too can aspire to be a 'W.B.D.'

If laughter truly has the power to lower blood pressure, improve digestion, and help insomnia, you'll be in ruddy good health by the time you reach Dr. Cohn's "Afterword" which he subtitles "You'll Have to be the World's Best Patient to Survive Managed Care." The Afterword isn't as funny as the rest of the book, at least to those of us who have survived treatment at an HMO.

One of the author's suggestions could be helpful to anyone, physician or not, who wants to avoid long, pointless meetings. Just let the meeting organizers know that you have a mild case of Hansen's Disease.

A.k.a. leprosy.

I found this book humurous and lighthearted. Easy to read, short chapters, but, with alot of punch. Good, sound advise on how to put the patient first, making them feel at ease and important. Over 20 years of real life experiences in medical practice have brought Dr. London wisdom to pass onto future generations. A must for anyone in the healthcare field.

I bought this on a whim and loved every chapter and I take this doctor's advice to heart. I am a primary care nurse practitioner and I happened upon this funny title and couldn't resist. I loved it so much and I gained so much practical useful information that I passed it on to a good physician friend who promptly read, loved and kept my book. Instead of asking for it back, I want another one. Loved the pearls of wisdom and the good humor in this book. Many chapters I could nearly recite by heart.