Learning to Play God

Do you know what your doctor really thinks or how your doctor really feels about medicine and about you? The seeds lie in the critical first few years of a medical education, and Dr. Robert Marion, director of the Center for Congenital Disorders at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, draws from his own experiences as student, intern, and resident to provide some surprising -- and sobering -- answers.

In the course of twenty gripping, illuminating, and extraordinarily candid stories, Dr. Marion reveals the dehumanizing, slightly insane, and often brutal process of medical training. You will experience not only the intense pressure and chronic exhaustion of the doctor-to-be, but also the price the patient must often pay. While each story stands alone as an adventure in medicine, taken together they are a call to change. With profound eloquence and compassion, Dr. Marion explores ways in which to assure that humanity and idealism survive the grueling and destructive path to technical competency.

"Marion knows how to spin a tale, including enough medical detail to lend veracity to his account yet not overwhelm the lay reader.... Absorbing stories that reveal the need for major reforms in how doctors are trained."

-- The Kirkus Reviews