This book probes the ethical structure of contemporary medicine in an argument accessible to lay readers, healthcare professionals, and ethicists alike.
Here's a Doctor who can write. Ray West, a self-confessed "understudy of the Great healer, Jesus Christ" chronicles in CONFESSIONS Incidents from three or more decades of medical practice. In a chatty style reminiscent of James Herriot's vignettes based on his veterinary practice, West introduces graphic events revealing the underside as well as the drama of interacting with patients, their family members and colleagues. Edna Maye Loveless, Esteemed Author and Educator Dr. Raymond West, a master storyteller and model of the ideal Family Physician (as well as teacher and researcher of Epidemiology) describes highlights of his career applying the basic principles of both science and art of medical practice. Examples of encounters from his years of successful caring for the emotional and spiritual as well as physical needs of patients, demonstrate for the reader, memorable examples of principles applicable to real life. Whether you are a medical care provider or a patient, you will love the stories and benefit from the inspiration of a Christ centered approach to the practice of medicine. Edwin H. Krick, MD, MPH., Associate professor of Medicine, Loma Linda University Doctor Raymond West's 'Confessions' is interesting in showing a Christian Doctor's life and temptations. He was one of returning sailors from WW2 who was given the opportunity, by a grateful government, to a medical profession previously limited mainly to the wealthy. This "GI surge" was responsibly, in great part, to a rapid technological progress in medicine. Dr. West's book reveals how this new technology has become a substitute for detailed questioning and manual examination of patients! He shows how a careful examination plus a knowledge of historical medicine is useful in diagnosis. His lifelong keeping of a detailed diary of interesting cases makes Dr. West and this book remarkable. I recommend it highly. Bernarr Johnson, MD, FACS
Throughout the ages philosophers have examined their own lives in an attempt both to find some meaning and to explain the roots of their philosophical perspectives. This volume is an introduction to philosophical autobiography, a rich but hitherto ignored literary genre that questions the self, its social context, and existence in general. The author analyzes representative narratives from antiquity to postmodernity, focusing in particular on three case studies: the autobiographies of St. Augustine, Rousseau, and Sartre. Through the study of these exemplary texts, philosophical reflection on the self emerges as a valid alternative to Freudian psychoanalysis and as a way of promoting self-renewal and change.
Merging art and religion with science, these largely autobiographical essays delve deeply into the emotional territory of medicine commonly avoided by other writers. This collection, first published in 1979, utilizes the physical body as a means to explore the human mind and soul. Never hesitant to admit his own frailties, Selzer draws on his experiences as a surgeon with integrity and wit, allowing readers a first-hand glimpse into the medical world.
The best-selling memoir Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy tells the fascinating story of actor Dirk Benedict’s journey from the big sky country of Montana to the hustle and hype of Hollywood. It also describes his odyssey of self-discovery and growth as he changes from struggling actor to celebrity, from meat eater to vegetarian, from cancer victim to cancer victor. Brilliantly written—insightful, witty, and always challenging—Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy may change the way you perceive actors, and even make you reconsider the truths in your own life.
Long before television and radio commercials beckoned to potential buyers, the medicine show provided free entertainment and promised cures for everything from corns to cancer. Combining elements of the circus, theater, vaudeville, and good old-fashioned entrepreneurship, the showmen of the American medicine show sold tonics, ointments, pills, extracts and a host of other "wonder-cures, " guaranteed to "cure what ails you." While the cures were seldom miraculous, the medicine show was an important part of American culture and of performance history. Harry Houdini, Buster Keaton, and P.T. Barnum all took a turn upon the medicine show stage. This study of the medicine show phenomenon surveys nineteenth century popular entertainment and provides insight into the ways in which show business, advertising, and medicine manufacture developed in concert. The colorful world of the medicine show, with its Wild West shows, pie-eating contests, clowns, and menageries, is fully explored. Photographs of performers and of the fascinating handbills and posters used to promote the medicine show are included.
In 2005, I was arrested by agents from both the US Postal Service and the Food and Drug Administration for the importation of illegal human growth hormone and botulinum toxin (Botox) from China. At the time of my arrest, I was a thirty-seven year old Harvard graduate with medical and post-doctoral degrees. I attended one of the finest residency and fellowship training programs in the world at the University of California, San Francisco. I played two sports in college, earned awards at every level of education and training, had wonderful friends and a beautiful three-year-old daughter. Having grown up the son of a restaurant manager and a housewife, I had transcended the humble beginnings of a small Midwestern town to become the quintessential American Dream.Or so I thought. But with my arrest on felony importation charges, everything I had worked so hard for was swept away and the entire trajectory of my life was indelibly altered. I would embark on a three year battle not only for my medical license, but also for my freedom. This journey would lead to intense personal introspection, and in that process, I would discover with ugliness, there was also beauty, and with punishment, mercy. There are many reasons I have written this manuscript, with one of the most important being that I hoped my story would resonate with others who have gone through difficult circumstances as a consequence of a dark side of their personality. With this book, I hope to inspire others to accept and embrace the good and bad, while continually striving for improved self-understanding and acceptance.I have changed names primarily for legal purposes, but the facts are unchanged. Although the events described in the book occurred more than ten years ago, I think about them nearly every day. The shame and humiliation are ever-present. Any simple Google search of my name reveals the truth, and that truth has affected me over and over, despite the years, as it probably should. As the judge told me that day in a federal courtroom, "You have betrayed the public's trust." This is my confessional.