Book Review: The Pen & the Stethoscope

This is a collection of fiction and non-fiction written by medical authors. It provides an interesting look behind the doctor’s mask and gives some insight into the minds of those who deal with traumatic, stressful, and emotional situations on a daily basis.

The stories canvass some of the emotional experiences felt by doctors, and gives some ideas as to how humanity interplays with medicine and the weight of responsibility carried by the medical profession.

Some of the accounts provided by the medical authors include the following:-

• a junior intern on night duty in an Intensive Care Unit;
• a paediatrician who caught pertussis (whooping cough) in this work, caring for children with infectious diseases;
• the crucial role played by doctors in the Nazi genocide, doctors who rationalised their participation in the atrocities through their alleged belief that they were “killing to heal”;
• a neurologist working with a man who has lost the greater part of his memory;
• an internist who regrets the overuse of machines in diagnosing medical conditions in place of diagnosis by sight and feel;
• surgeons attempting to repair a leaking abdominal aortic aneurism; and
• a psychiatrist in therapy sessions.

The stories bring into sharp focus the points of view of the patients and they illuminate the experience of grief, trauma, illness, and aging that doctors witness through their work.

Unlike the television shows that deals with medical type issues, this publication delves beyond sensationalism and takes a critical look at doctors’ close observations of, and reflections upon, their working lives and those of their patients.

This publication is well worth a read by anyone with an interest in the medical profession and the impact upon doctors of the responsibility and trauma sometimes endured by doctors in their daily work, and the trials and tribulations of those medical practitioners.