JOY OF PEDIATRICS

In this memoir, a pediatrician reflects on the joys and challenges of his profession.

Tsesis began his career as a pediatrician in 1964 and immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1974. His long and eventful career ran the gamut of “long hours, sleepless nights, and heavy responsibilities.” Over the years, he amassed a stockpile of anecdotes, some cute and some heartbreaking, and reflected deeply on his patients, especially those under the age of 2 still in the phase of “divine innocence.” Many of the tales he relates are sweet; for example, a little girl says, inexplicably, of her younger brother: “He has a sore throat because a banana bit him.” As the author sees it, the pediatrician occupies a privileged promontory from which to observe children, who guilelessly express the best of humankind: “If you have doubts about the human race, visit a pediatric office. There is probably nowhere else on earth where priceless human love is concentrated into such a small space. If an alien from another planet wanted to understand the meaning of such earthly words as ‘to love’ and ‘to be human’ one of the best places for them to study would be a pediatric office, an environment saturated with love to children.” Of course, this an idealized portrayal. But Tsesis does, in fact, discuss the less sanguine aspects of his career: Abandoned children, parents addicted to drugs, and teen pregnancy are among the difficult subjects he tackles with intelligence and clarity.

The author is impressively sensitive to anything that disadvantages vulnerable children—he writes both poignantly and eloquently about parents who put their careers before their kids and are “hostage to the goals and purposes of our industrial society.” In addition, he unflinchingly discusses divorce and its indelible impact on children—and the sad “art of surviving alone” that seems to promote it, the “new ‘religion’ of modern times.” Tsesis accomplishes something exceedingly difficult—he combines an uncompromising discernment with genuine moral empathy. He discusses one instance in which he finally had to ask two parents to find a new pediatrician after their typically noxious comments turned racist. Unfortunately, this collection of impressionistic remembrances—some of the episodes are only a few sentences long—can be meandering and often unfocused. Readers will get the impression that the author wanted to furnish an exhaustive account of his experiences without imposing a narrative order on it. Moreover, he can sometimes indulge in sentiment and triteness. Consider this banality: “Each child is different and unique. In each child I can see features that belong to one, and only one, human being. These features distinguish the child from other people and help make that child an individual. The external differences in people help them feel their individuality, preventing them from merging with the nameless crowd.” Tsesis’ career was a truly admirable one, but his recollection of it is a bit uneven and will be best enjoyed by those who know him.

An astute, moving but rambling account by a pediatrician.