Customer Reviews

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

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Having practiced medicine for longer than I'll admit, my sense of humor may no longer be entirely standard. London combines his love of people and hard-learned lessons of practice to produce these essays, fortunately of a length much shorter than Charles Lamb's. These transparently written essays may explain otherwise in-explicable physician behavior. "My daughter told the doctor she knew she wasn't pregnant, but he did a pregnancy test anyway." "My back hurts, and all my other doctors give me narcotics, but Dr London didn't." Other stories of his approach to back pain, stomach pain, etc, may make you wish he were your own doctor.

Don't expect him to expose the foibles of his patients; his sharpest barbs are aimed at himself and his colleagues.

I keep this on my bookshelf and always enjoy taking it down for a short browsing.

....if so, then this book will cause you a some serious pain! The pseudonymous "Oscar London" is not only a great and funny writer, but almost certainly an excellent doctor as well. And like all good humor, there are also profound truths buried within (well, okay, maybe the term "buried" isn't the best word to use in describing a book on doctoring). In this book, you can see Dr. London, with wit, comedy, tragedy, or irony, tackling all the very serious issues that stress out doctors and push lesser healers into burnout, addiction, or depression. Medical errors, insurance hassles, predatory "financial advisers", professional jealousy, doctor-nurse relations, difficult diagnoses, malpractice attorneys, incompetent medical students, long-winded patients, pill-seeking addicts: Dr. London has seen it all, and has a humorous or insightful take on it that will amuse all and help physicians cope with the significant stressors of practicing medicine. As a practicing physician, I think this hilarious little book is up there among the best books anywhere about not merely being a doctor, but becoming a good (or great) doctor.

Very funny and short stories. You have the ability if you are busy to read one or two stories in 5 minutes and save it to read more later.

In one word this book is hilarious (although excellent is another word that comes to mind).

I don't agree with every piece of advice given but I admire Dr. London for not being afraid of going against common sense ethics and giving information that can actually be used.

The views are fresh, well written and humorous. A book anyone involved in the health industry should read.

From the first essay, "Be Jewish," Doctor London's book "Kill as Few Patients as Possible: And Fifty-Six Other Essays on How to Be the World's Best Doctor" will surely keep you laughing. If you don't laugh at some point during this rather short book, there is little hope for you as either you have no sense of humour at all (which should be considered a medical emergency) or you have somehow been blessed to never experience a doctors office.

I've often been told that my funny bone was likely removed at birth because I don't find many things funny, but I cannot tell you how many times I had to pause to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing so hard that I would wake the house. Every few pages, I would stop look at my significant other, read a few lines outloud from the book inbetween laughter, and watch his eyes roll as he tried to stop himself from laughing.

Oh and "Doc" London, if you are reading this, you forgot one essay that you should have included. "Laughter is the best medicine." I'm sure if there is any truth to that, you will be curing more than a few people who read this book. And yes, I know, don't call you Doc.

Face it folks, anyone in the field of medicine works far too hard to loose their sense of humor! Its dangerous for your health. I will be the first to admit that my sense of humor has always tended more towards satire and pun than crack-falls, and this book serves it up! I even liked it enough to buy another copy as a gift. I definatly reccomend this book for anyone looking for a few laughs in a hard-working profession.

The old version that I first loved was wonderful but in a bit of a cheap paperback perfect bound thing. This edition is a much more substantial, much more "stick it on the shelf next to the toilet and read during quality time" feel to it. If you are a patient, don't read this. Give it to your doctor, particularly if you hate him - because he or she just might die of laughter. There is humor but also wisdom and poignancy. It is more of a "must read" for doctors than Netter's Anatomy. The only con - I wonder why the author changed the content of the chapter "when you do something so terrible to die over, don't." The original story left an indelible mark and was what I felt the most powerful moment in the book. The chapter that replaced it was insipid and uninspired.

As a physician has not found a real sensible advice that could help me in my job.
Most of whats written are devastating jokes.