The Doctor in Literature

This annotated indexed anthology deals with doctor-patient interactions as portrayed in novels short stories and plays especially where these are unsatisfactory. This book is unique among medical anthologies in that readers can look up medical topics as they appear in fiction. It analyses sources of conflict such as the fee the doctor's perceived lack of time annoying bedside mannerisms and poor communication. Differences between authors' perceptions and what happens in the real world are highlighted. The choice of passages is based on clinical relevance and the range of subjects and quotations are generally not found in other texts. This work brings together some 1500 passages from approximately 600 works of literature to provide a major reference source to identify and analyse recurring themes in the portrayal of medical doctors and to provide pleasure for readers who use it for browsing. 'Dr Posen has had to pick widely and carefully. What he offers is a full range of judgments. Why should those of us who are physicians look at what Dr Posen has placed before us? If we know how we are seen by the rest of the world we may be more likely to conduct ourselves so as to demonstrate the value of what we profess. Among his readers should also be physicians-to-be medical students and it can speak to a much wider audience: patients parents nurses politicians economists and historians.' Edward J Huth in his Foreword