On Call: Three Doctors on the Front Lines

The dramatic lives of three very different doctors, and their courageous patients, are presented in vivid detail by a practicing therapist. By the author of R.N.

The doctors whose lives and careers are viewed here by Carpineto ( R.N. ) are unusual on several counts--gender, race, area of specialty--yet the author claims they are also typical of Boston doctors in their very breadth and variety. Among the three are Yvonne Gomez-Carrion, a black-skinned obstetrician-gynecologist; Barbara Jean Coopes, a white pediatric intensivist; and James Menzoian, a white male vascular surgeon. As highly motivated, intelligent teenagers from encouraging families, they single-mindedly pursued their dreams to become doctors. By following their individual paths the three arrived at inner-city hospitals and clinics; crushing schedules coupled with administrative and academic duties often harmed their private lives. Yet, though not as well paid as private practitioners, they seem to feel sufficiently compensated by warm patient/doctor relationships, the excellent medical resources of the Boston area and, as this book records, the fulfillment of their goals.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Soft-focus profiles of three physicians by a former social worker whose previous book, R.N. (1992), flatteringly profiled three nurses. Although written in a livelier style than R.N., this book is similarly flawed by the author's unwillingness to risk offending anyone in probing a subject too deeply. The objects of Carpineto's gentle scrutiny here are Yvonne Gomez-Carrion, a young black obstetrician-gynecologist practicing at a community health center in Roxbury, Mass.; Barbara Jean Coopes, a young pediatrician specializing in intensive care at Boston City Hospital; and James Menzoian, a middle-aged vascular surgeon at Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center. Carpineto asserts that although they are not representative of doctors in general, they are typical Boston doctors in that each combines the roles of clinician, academician, and part-time administrator. All have first-rate intellects and a singular measure of self-discipline, according to Carpineto, and she shows them to be dedicated and skilled physicians. It is their professional life that the author concentrates on, but glimpses of their personal lives are provided. While the work of doctors can certainly be intriguing to the layperson, there's nothing especially fascinating or unusual about the situations presented here. Why she selected these particular physicians is not revealed, and the book's purpose remains unclear. In an epilogue, Carpineto gathers her three subjects in a room and asks for their opinions about various health care issues, such as the need for more primary care physicians, the changing role of nurses, insurance reform, and managed competition. Her conclusion is that, for doctors as well as for patients, the times they are a- changing. An innocuous, blurry account that will be of interest primarily to loyal fans of books about doctors. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Yvonne Gomez-Carrion, a young black obstetrician-gynecologist; B. J. Coopes, a young white woman specializing in pediatric intensive care; and James Menzoian, a vascular surgeon in his 50s, are the stars of this sympathetic but realistic depiction of the challenges, losses, and victories of medical practice. Although the three do not constitute a representative sample of U.S. physicians, in presenting their working lives, Carpineto does a first-rate job of showing what it means to be an urban physician today. Boston University Medical Center and Roxbury Comprehensive Community Health Center, at which the three work, provide care for patients from a broad range of social and economic strata. Carpineto lets the doctors speak for themselves and provides just enough context to set the individual stories into a narrative whole that makes a powerful overall impact. Emphasis throughout is on what can be done in individual situations for patients and their families, in both the hospital and the social setting to which the ill must return. William Beatty

By tracing the daily lives of three dedicated physicians, Carpineto (R.N., LJ 1/92) reveals what today's daily practice of hospital and inner-city health clinic medicine is all about: operating rooms, delivery suites, doctor-patient-family communications, sickness and healing, life and death. She reveals the changing face of the medical practice, showing that there are more women and minorities than ever before and that an ever-growing number of socially driven medical problems-drugs and guns, for example-affect what a doctor sees. She also shows how the doctors' personal and professional lives intertwine. An epilog contains an interview in which the physicians present their views on healthcare reform, euthanasia, abortion, medical costs, paperwork, and other concerns. Much like B.D. Colen's O.R. (LJ 1/93) and Lisa Belkin's First, Do No Harm (LJ 1/93), this book is recommended for both lay and informed readers.
James Swanton, Albert Einstein Coll. of Medicine, New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.