This is the first major study of a significant post within the British government. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources and interviews with senior health professionals and politicians, this book positions the Chief Medical Officer as one of the most influential individuals within the Whitehall system, with personal responsibility for the health of the population. Through a number of case studies, including the 1950s smoking and lung caner issue, and the AIDS and BSE crises of the 1980s and 1990s, "The Nation's Doctor" examines how the CMO operates, drawing on expertise to inform the direction of government health policy.
This is the first major study of a significant post within the British government. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources and interviews with senior health professionals and politicians, this book positions the Chief Medical Officer as one of the most influential individuals within the Whitehall system, with personal responsibility for the health of the population. Through a number of case studies, including the 1950s smoking and lung caner issue, and the AIDS and BSE crises of the 1980s and 1990s, "The Nation's Doctor" examines how the CMO operates, drawing on expertise to inform the direction of government health policy.
An anthology that addresses the changing nature of rural medicine in the United States "These authors courageously document the emotional and literally physical vulnerabilities they experience while delivering care in rural communities. ... This book exquisitely illustrates the complexity of 'dual relationships' and boundary issues in rural practice."--Family Medicine Over the past thirty years, rural health care in the United States has changed dramatically. The stereotypical white-haired doctor with his black bag of instruments and his predominantly white, small-town clientele has imploded: the global age has reached rural America. Independently owned clinics have given way to a massive system of hospitals; new technology now brings specialists right to the patient's bedside; and an increasingly diverse clientele has sparked the need for doctors and nurses with an equally diverse assortment of skills. The Country Doctor Revisited is a fascinating collection of essays, poems, and short stories written by rural health care professionals on the experiences of doctors and nurses practicing medicine in rural environments, such as farms, reservations, and migrant camps. The pieces explore the benefits and burdens of new technology, the dilemmas in making ethically sound decisions, and the trials of caring for patients in a broken system. Alternately compelling, thought provoking, and moving, they speak of the diversity of rural health care providers, the range of patients served in rural communities, the variety of settings that comprise the rural United States, and the resources and challenges health care providers and patients face today.
"Cook recounts fifty years of service as a rural doctor in Texas and Nebraska, where a wide spectrum of dilemmas tested his resourcefulness, endurance, and sense of humor. His humourous account of life in the first half of the twentieth century conveys a distinct sense of the slings and arrows of doctoring on the plains". -- Jacket.
A brilliant and ambitious woman is eager to establish her career as a doctor but is forced to choose between her occupation and married life. This timely tale presents an internal conflict facing women in the nineteenth century and beyond. Nan is a bright young woman who grows up under the tutelage of the widowed physician, Dr. Leslie. She became interested in medicine at an early age and decides to pursue it as an adult. Unfortunately, her desire to start a career goes against the social conventions of the day. Women are expected to prioritize marriage and children over any profession. Yet, Nan struggles to desert her goals to appease others. It’s a trying dilemma that pits her against her family, friends and local residents. A Country Doctor is a semiautobiographical story influenced by the author’s personal path to independence. The novel explores the many limitations women encounter when attempting to establish a career. It’s a forward-thinking tale and source of encouragement for those seeking professional growth. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of A Country Doctor is both modern and readable.
The New York Times Bestseller from Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, MD. “We have a massive, deadly epidemic hidden in plain sight: loneliness. It is as harmful to health as smoking and far more common. And as his gripping stories of the science and suffering make clear, we can do something about it. Together is fascinating, moving, and essential reading.”—Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal “Together made me rethink much of what I believe about physical health, public policy, and the human condition. By revealing America’s epidemic of loneliness—and then offering an array of remedies for the condition—Murthy has done a great service, and made Together the most important book you’ll read this year.”—Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When and Drive The book we need NOW to avoid a social recession, Murthy’s prescient message is about the importance of human connection, the hidden impact of loneliness on our health, and the social power of community. Humans are social creatures: In this simple and obvious fact lies both the problem and the solution to the current crisis of loneliness. In his groundbreaking book, the 19th surgeon general of the United States Dr. Vivek Murthy makes a case for loneliness as a public health concern: a root cause and contributor to many of the epidemics sweeping the world today from alcohol and drug addiction to violence to depression and anxiety. Loneliness, he argues, is affecting not only our health, but also how our children experience school, how we perform in the workplace, and the sense of division and polarization in our society. But, at the center of our loneliness is our innate desire to connect. We have evolved to participate in community, to forge lasting bonds with others, to help one another, and to share life experiences. We are, simply, better together. The lessons in Together have immediate relevance and application. These four key strategies will help us not only to weather this crisis, but also to heal our social world far into the future. Spend time each day with those you love. Devote at least 15 minutes each day to connecting with those you most care about. Focus on each other. Forget about multitasking and give the other person the gift of your full attention, making eye contact, if possible, and genuinely listening. Embrace solitude. The first step toward building stronger connections with others is to build a stronger connection with oneself. Meditation, prayer, art, music, and time spent outdoors can all be sources of solitary comfort and joy. Help and be helped. Service is a form of human connection that reminds us of our value and purpose in life. Checking on a neighbor, seeking advice, even just offering a smile to a stranger six feet away, all can make us stronger. During Murthy’s research for Together, he found that there were few issues that elicited as much enthusiastic interest from both very conservative and very liberal members of Congress, from young and old people, or from urban and rural residents alike. Loneliness was something so many people have known themselves or have seen in the people around them. In the book, Murthy also shares his own deeply personal experiences with the subject—from struggling with loneliness in school, to the devastating loss of his uncle who succumbed to his own loneliness, as well as the important example of community and connection that his parents modeled. Simply, it’s a universal condition that affects all of us directly or through the people we love—now more than ever.
In this quietly revolutionary work of social observation and medical philosophy, Booker Prize-winning writer John Berger and the photographer Jean Mohr train their gaze on an English country doctor and find a universal man--one who has taken it upon himself to recognize his patient's humanity when illness and the fear of death have made them unrecognizable to themselves. In the impoverished rural community in which he works, John Sassall tend the maimed, the dying, and the lonely. He is not only the dispenser of cures but the repository of memories. And as Berger and Mohr follow Sassall about his rounds, they produce a book whose careful detail broadens into a meditation on the value we assign a human life. First published thirty years ago, A Fortunate Man remains moving and deeply relevant--no other book has offered such a close and passionate investigation of the roles doctors play in their society. "In contemporary letters John Berger seems to me peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience." --Susan Sontag
Meet Barry Ladd. He is a family physician who practiced medicine for thirty years in a small country town, forty miles south of a major city. He calls it "Our Town", because the residents, including himself, so personally identified with the community. In the thirty years that Ladd practiced in "Our Town", he delivered fifteen hundred babies and had one hundred and eighty thousand office visits. He delivered the babies of the babies, and took care of four generations in the same family. During that time, there was an explosion of technology and scientific information. The practice of medicine shifted from being more of an art to being more of a science. During this time, Ladd was a participant and observer. He saw how personal events and decisions played out over time. He tells his readers what he saw, heard, and felt. These are all true stories. Some are composites of several people. The names have been changed.
