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SAVING THE ART OF MEDICINE by Allen Sussman

SAVING THE ART OF MEDICINE

Observations of a Practitioner

by Allen Sussman

Pub Date: Jan. 30th, 2023
ISBN: 9781039161795
Publisher: FriesenPress

Sussman asserts that doctors need to embrace empathy, intuition, and a dash of alternative medicine in addition to traditional science in this medical memoir.

The author, a retired endocrinologist, looks back on a 50-year career in clinical practice and research during a time of extraordinary advances in medical technology that, he concludes, “caus[ed] doctors to lose sight of the essence of their practice—connecting with their patients as individual human beings.” He begins with a critique of scientific medicine, touching on his view of the medical school training that reduces patients to assemblages of pathologies; the diagnostic tests that sometimes yield false positives and unnecessary interventions; and the randomized clinical trials that focus on profitable pharmaceuticals rather than lifestyle changes to treat chronic conditions like hypertension, among other topics. Drawing on his own experiences, Sussman suggests a more holistic approach, which mostly consists of simply listening to and forming connections with patients. The author discusses the mind’s effects on the body—including the placebo effect, which, Sussman asserts, can be as powerful as drugs, and the way a sense of higher purpose can reduce one’s risk of early death—and details his own meditation routine. Less convincingly, he extols alternative therapies, from acupuncture and homeopathy to the traditional Tibetan medicine that cured his swollen throat during a sojourn in India (“I have not been able to determine which herbal preparations I was given,” he writes, “but the experience made me a believer”). Sussman supports his very readable discussions of medical issues with vivid case studies and anecdotes. His writing conveys the technical aspects of medicine in elegant, straightforward prose while probing the doctor-patient relationship with painful honesty: “It is not that every patient with a panic disorder needs a CAT scan to rule out a brain tumor, but rather that I needed to be more aware of that possibility when I developed my diagnostic plan.” The result is a soulful account of the physician’s craft, one that reveals both its successes and its uncertainties.

A captivating journey into the psychic and spiritual dimensions of healing.