The Man With the Iron Tattoo and Other True Tales of Uncommon Wisdom: What Our Patients Have Taught Us About Love, Faith and Healing - Softcover

Castaldo M.D., John E.; Levitt, Lawrence P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933771240 ISBN 13: 9781933771243

Publisher: BenBella Books, 2007

Synopsis

Rare book

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Praise for The Man With the Iron Tattoo and Other True Tales of Uncommon Wisdom

"What one learns from this book you won't find in any textbook of medicine that I ever read. These stories are less about disease and more about context - the impact of an illness on the patient's life, on the family, on the doctor, and even on the doctor's family. I would urge physicians, those who have experienced serious illness in their families, and especially medical students to read this book. Hopefully what is uncommon will become common!"

Andrew G. Wallace, MD
Dean Emeritus
Dartmouth School of Medicine

***

"With some 60 years as practicing neurologists between them, Drs. Castaldo and Levitt have borne witness to the many dimensions of human struggle with severe illness. From this rich experience, they now share with us what it is to truly listen with compassion and how we may touch the lives of others by opening our own hearts. Throughout the book, we see how the sometimes hard lessons of love, hope, and humility expand us, and we experience the 'uncommon wisdom' that resides in everyone, ready to be tapped in times of great challenge. This is truly a book that belongs in everyone's library."

Frank M. Dattilio, PhD
Department of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School

***

"Unencumbered by jargon, this clearly written book filled with compelling personal stories is a wonderful reminder of what the practice of medicine was meant to be. Its two physician authors are inspirational examples of the power of compassion and humility in a profession often accused of insensitivity and arrogance."

Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney, President, Cedar Crest College
Joseph J. Blaney, former head, United Nations International School

***

"These are stories of the humanity of medicine. In a sense, they are old-fashioned, because they celebrate the relationship between doctor and patient as it has been at its best. But in another sense, they are timeless, because they tell of the human condition, and how we care for each other."

Sherwin B. Nuland, MD
Best-selling author and Clinical Professor of Surgery, Yale University

***

"In the gloom that is frequently heard about the American health care system, this book is a ray of sunlight. There is nobility among American medical doctors and Doctors Levitt and Castaldo are shining examples of that nobility."

Edward Donley
Former Chairman of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

***

"Drs. Castaldo and Levitt have written a book brimming with clinical wisdom and humanity. Their lovingly written stories of their patients' case histories beautifully illuminate the lessons their patients have taught them about medicine and life. This volume is proof that contemporary physicians can practice using the highest technology testing and treatment yet remain caring, kind, ethical, and compassionate."

James L. Bernat, MD
Professor of Neurology and Director of the Program in Clinical Ethics Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Lebanon, New Hampshire

From the Inside Flap:

"The doctor is seized by fear and races from his hospital office to the MRI suite a few hundreds yards away. If he doesn't get there in time and stop the imaging test, his tattooed patient certainly will die. . . .

The young doctor breaks the rules to invite an elderly laborer into his home as his wife undergoes treatment for lung cancer. The doctor is abruptly called before the hospital President; it turns out the man was more than he first appeared. . . ."

These are just two of the thirteen riveting true stories about the lessons two accomplished doctors learned from their patients. In The Man with the Iron Tattoo neurologists John Castaldo and Lawrence Levitt share what they have learned in their many years as doctors, not just through tests and labs, but through years of listening and learning from their patients and families.

The Man with the Iron Tattoo is a compilation of thirteen different - yet equally touching - stories that have shaped these doctors. These stories, part medical mystery, part human spirit, remind us that doctor-patient relationships extend far beyond hospital walls, and that medical miracles don't always involve medicine. They highlight the complexities of the human body and the obstacles doctors face each day as they confront medical challenges of all kinds.

This book is a reminder of the difference doctors make in the lives of their patients, and just as importantly, the difference patients make in the lives of doctors.

About this edition

• Publisher: BenBella Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1933771240
• ISBN 13: 9781933771243
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 259