Remembering how to ride a bike -- Grandiosity -- Polio 1955 -- Medical education -- Plastic surgery -- A barn in new jersey -- Bone cancer, 1979 -- NICU -- Septic shock -- Before HIV has a name -- Doctor Dan -- The plan -- Ebola -- Hamburger helper -- Too many chromosomes -- Pediatrics -- Anemia -- Brittle bones -- Insulin -- Frankie -- The worst mother in the world -- When should I panic? -- Lead poisoning -- The girl who was allergic to Christmas -- The girl with one eye -- Honduras -- Death of an icon -- A man steps on a nail -- Stockholm syndrome -- Lost arts -- Not fair -- Pee -- Wisdom from the mouths of babes -- Earwax and warts -- Therapy -- Negotiation -- Jamal -- The mother who wouldn't let me touch her baby -- Notes home from school -- Malcolm -- Coach smith -- Cutting -- Addiction -- Divide and conquer -- The cost of not caring -- Haiti -- The table saw and the thumb : a cautionary tale -- Marijuana is not your friend -- The boy who could play anything -- Social media isn't social -- Psychiatrists by default -- Autism -- How psychiatric medications and therapy work -- The myth of mental wellness -- Burnout -- Ulysses -- Erectile dysfunction -- The zombie apocalypse -- COVID-19 -- Optimism.
Summary:
"Pediatrician Mark Vonnegut has spent forty years treating children for coughs, fevers, ear infections, and sometimes more serious complaints. In that time he has seen the American medical system change in ways he couldn't have imagined as a medical student--some of them good, others not so good. But what hasn't changed is his commitment to his young patients, whose stories fill the pages of this book. There's Anna Maria, a little girl with an incurable case of bone cancer; Adeline, who has a syndrome so rare none of Vonnegut's fellow doctors have seen it before; Marlowe, whose life-threatening anemia is cured by his just-born baby brother. Whether recounting the cases that have stuck with him or detailing larger changes in medicine--the privatization of health care, innovations in cancer treatment, the rise of anti-vaxxers and HMOs--Vonnegut is a personable guide through what is often seen as an impersonal system, and his stories sparkle with humanity, candor, and wry wisdom. ("In pediatrics, and most medical care," he says, "if the doctor can just shut up and listen long enough, the patient will give him the diagnosis. Unfortunately, there's not a procedure code or template for how to shut up.") Vonnegut doesn't pull any punches in his criticisms of the medical-industrial complex, but The Heart of Caring isn't a diatribe. It's the story of a life lived in medicine, with all the heartbreak, hope, and everyday heroism that entails"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.