October Reads

All memoirs this month, two doctors. Thank you to these authors for their honest sharing, there is much to reflect on here.

Dr Lachlan McIvor’s book Life and Death Decisions: Fighting to save lives from disaster, diseased destruction is so much more than a story about an Australian training and working in medicine.

A book for our times for sure as Lachie has spent years working in public health in Australia, the Pacific Islands and in Geneva with the WHO

A raw and honest look at the sacrifices doctors make in their own lives as the author writes about his own grief, depression, aloneness and poor coping strategies.

This book is also a clarion call for the impact of climate change and antibiotic resistance on human health. We have no time to linger in these matters.

Dr Henry Marsh has written many books. Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery is so much more than an insight into neurosurgery.

Dr Marsh shares his own thoughts and emotions about his work, with little sugar coating. Giving a truly human view of what it’s like to fall short of one’s own aspirations, to exceed them and

to work in a system that is suboptimal. Henry speaks plainly, shockingly at times, about the way doctors learn to differentiate themselves from their patients.

A vital read for all IMO if we are to every truly partner effectively in healthcare.

In And Finally: Matters of Life and Death Henry describes with the same candor the many emotions of retiring from medical work, including the importance of intimate relationships and meaningful activity, and of discovering his own cancer.

His writing is eloquent and plain speaking, he is at once realistic, distressed and compassionate. An openly human account of one precious life with many lessons for others to take up should they choose.