TY  - JOUR
T1  - REading medical memoirs
AU  - Lantos JD
Y1  - 2012/08/01
N1  - 10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.1741
JO  - Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
SP  - 779
EP  - 780
VL  - 166
IS  - 8
N2  - 
So why read another physician memoir? Because, even though they all cover roughly the same territory, they can, when the stories are well constructed, provide us with insights into our own life and work. They can surprise us. William Carlos Williams developed the template. His stories start with a call to see a patient. At first, the case seems simple. The doctor sets out to make quick work of it. Then, a surprising turn occurs. The pediatrician is ambushed by feelings that are often both unprofessional and all too human. Then, “ . . . the commonplace, prosaic, and trivial events in ordinary life” lead to “a sudden revelation of a person's true character or the sudden understanding of the meaning of an event.”1

SN  - 1072-4710
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.1741
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.1741
ER  -