The Annals of a Country Doctor

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a country doctor in solo practice in the decade of the seventies—making house calls, delivering babies, comforting the dying, offering hope to the hopeless, meeting delightful and sometimes eccentric patients, and working sixty to eighty hours per week, often exhausted and in need of rest? If so, follow me as I work in a small town office and make hospital rounds in rural Indiana as a family physician. You’re unlikely to forget the experiences or regret the sharing.

Carl Matlock, MD, graduated from Butler University with a BS in Chemistry and Zoology in 1968, and from Indiana University Medical School with an MD in 1971. He lives near Mitchell, Indiana, with his wife of nearly 50 years, Janet. When not spending time with his three children and five grandchildren, he enjoys fishing, farming, and reading.