House of God – was macht es so besonders?

Die New York Times hat gestern einen Artikel veröffentlicht A Book Doctors Can’t Close, in dem diskutiert wird, warum das Buch „The House Of God“ immer noch so populär ist unter Ärzten, Medizinstudenten und Menschen im Gesundheitswesen.

The novel introduced many derogatory terms to the medical culture. Gomer referred to the elderly, chronically ill patients no intern wants to deal with. The shorthand LOL in NAD (Little Old Lady in No Apparent Distress), was for patients needlessly admitted by their private physicians for expensive work-ups in an era when health insurance reimbursements flowed like the Mississippi.

Gefunden hab ich den Artikel bei DB’s Medical Rants, die der Meinung sind, das die Gründe für die Bekanntheit tiefer liegen:

As physicians we do care about all our patients, but sometimes we just shake our heads in disbelief. As I often say to students and residents – you cannot make up these stories. You cannot imagine the things patients do. You cannot understand the evils of alcohol until you see patients in DTs or patients with Korsakoff’s psychosis.

Sometimes our laughing seems inappropriate, but without it laughter we probably would just have to cry each day. We can be empathetic and still laugh beyond closed doors at the inanity of the human condition.

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