The Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death [Paperback]

Susan Pories (Editor), Sachin H. Jain (Editor), Gordon Harper (Editor), Jerome E. Groopman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2006

By the time most of us meet our doctors, they’ve been in practice for a number of years. Often they seem aloof, uncaring, and hurried. Of course, they’re not all like that, and most didn’t start out that way.

Here are voices of third-year students just as they begin to take on clinical responsibilities. Their words focus on the odd transition students face when they must deal with real people in real time and in real crises and when they must learn to put aside their emotions to make quick, accurate, and sensitive decisions. Their decisions aren’t always right, and the consequences can be life-altering—for all involved. Moving, disturbing, and candid, their true stories show us a side of the profession that few ever see, or could even imagine. They show, often painfully, how medical students grow up, right at the bedside.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Groopman states in his foreword, "each interaction between a doctor and a patient is a story." The moving stories of 44 doctors-in-training collected by two M.D.s (Pories and Harper) and one medical student (Jain), all at Harvard, are accounts written by medical students. Their tales convey lessons both emotional and medical, from learning how to communicate and empathize with those afflicted by illness to ways to ease suffering and loss. In one heartrending incident, David Y. Hwang describes a marine's rage followed by tears on hearing that his wife was going to die, while the wife herself remains in calm denial. Rajesh G. Shah explores how he learned from his first patient to overcome his judgmental attitude about those so beset by anxiety they cannot function without medication. In a particularly self-revelatory (and anonymous) piece, a student describes the endless hazing experience at the hands of interns and residents and the student's need to constantly manage a sense of insecurity. These are thoughtful and illuminating accounts of beginning physicians under stress, growing and changing as they progress through their chosen field. (June 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–This collection of essays written by medical students going from the classroom to their first experiences with live patients gives personal views of the issues doctors face. From communicating diagnoses to patients to balancing medical protocol with patient needs, medical students have a unique perspective. They see established procedures with new eyes and question everything. Each essay conveys a pivotal moment or experience for its author. One individual learning to take medical histories watched a video of himself interacting with patients and realized that he never looked up and was brusque to the point of rudeness. Teens exploring medical careers will find much to think about here.–Charlotte Bradshaw, San Mateo County Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1 edition (June 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156512507X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565125070
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #255,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Pories is the co-editor of The Soul of a Doctor and co-author of Cancer: Biography of a Disease. She is a surgeon at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Mount Auburn Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. She lives with her family in Newton, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read for all; great gift for medical students!, May 23, 2006

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C. P. Lincoln (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death (Paperback)

I loved the book. These writers allow you to witness and feel first hand the amazing transformation medical students experience as they begin to treat patients. Just as having a child or losing a loved one can dramatically change your life and perspective, so can being responsible for another person's health. It makes quite an impact to be responsible for patients when they are not well, scared and/or facing some of the biggest decisions and best and worst moments of their life. The book moved me to hearty laughter, stunned silence and times when tears streamed down my cheeks. I woke up my husband in the middle of the night to read one of the poems to him. It is the perfect gift for someone entering medical school but relevant and can be enjoyed by anyone. I highly recommend this book.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars promising book needs some surgery, July 5, 2006

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Susan Laplant - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death (Paperback)

all of the true stories in this book have promise - they are interesting and thought provoking but unfortunately, the writers never follow through with the outcomes. You meet a patient, find out their problem - usually involving some sort of dillema for the dr. - they make their point but the outcome is left out. Did the patient die? They never say. (even a brief update after the essay would make a difference).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and intimate look into the experiences of physicians-in-training, June 12, 2006

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Christopher Kiley (Newtonville, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death (Paperback)

If you ever wondered what it feels like to become a physician, I would highly recommend reading this book. Not designed to be entertaining but is instead an intimate look into the real life experiences of young and idealistic medical students as they move from the classroom to encounter the realities of patient care and the limitations of the health care system. These are very powerful and human stories, sometimes disturbing and heartwrenching and other times more positive. It's hard to imagine anyone reading this book and not be profoundly moved.