The Heart of Caring: A Life in Pediatrics - Hardcover

Vonnegut, Mark

  • 3.83 out of 5 stars
    111 ratings by Goodreads
 
9781644211052: The Heart of Caring: A Life in Pediatrics
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 164421105X ISBN 13: 9781644211052
Publisher: Seven Stories Press, 2022

Synopsis

Reflections from a life lived in medicine.

Pediatrician Mark Vonnegut has spent forty years treating children for coughs, fevers, ear infections, and sometimes more serious complaints. In that time he has seen the American medical system change in ways he couldn't have imagined as a medical student--some of them good, others not so good. But what hasn't changed is his commitment to his young patients, whose stories fill the pages of this book. There's Anna Maria, a little girl with an incurable case of bone cancer; Adeline, who has a syndrome so rare none of Vonnegut's fellow doctors have seen it before; Marlowe, whose life-threatening anemia is cured by his just-born baby brother.

Whether recounting the cases that have stuck with him or detailing larger changes in medicine--the privatization of health care, innovations in cancer treatment, the rise of anti-vaxxers and HMOs--Vonnegut is a personable guide through what is often seen as an impersonal system, and his stories sparkle with humanity, candor, and wry wisdom. ("In pediatrics, and most medical care," he says, "if the doctor can just shut up and listen long enough, the patient will give him the diagnosis. Unfortunately, there's not a procedure code or template for how to shut up.") Vonnegut doesn't pull any punches in his criticisms of the medical-industrial complex, but The Heart of Caring isn't a diatribe. It's the story of a life lived in medicine, with all the heartbreak, hope, and everyday heroism that entails.

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About the Author

After writing The Eden Express, a memoir detailing his struggle with mental illness, Mark Vonnegut went to Harvard Medical School. He lives with his wife and son in Milton, Massachusetts, where he continues to practice primary care pediatrics.  His most recent book is Just Like Someone without Mental Illness Only More So (Delacorte Press 2010).

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Seven Stories Press
Publication date
2022
Language
English
ISBN 10 
164421105X
ISBN 13 
9781644211052
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
240
Rating
  • 3.83 out of 5 stars
    111 ratings by Goodreads