This book contains my reflections upon my 26 years as an "old time" generalist family physician in rural America. It is merely a collection of stories that depict some of my many experiences over the years. The stories mirror those of many of my generalist colleagues who have experienced "the trenches" of rural primary care. My stories span the breadth and depth of the discipline of rural family medicine. Stories range from assisting mothers giving birth to caring for and comforting those at the end of life, from performing surgery to becoming involved in one's community, and from making house calls to providing emergency room care. Some are silly, some are sad, some are funny, and some may make you mad. JIMMIE ASHCRAFT, M.D. Doctor Ashcraft is a graduate of the University of Oregon Medical School. He was a member of the clinical staff of the University of Washington Medical School for 30 years. Doctor Ashcraft and his wife, Kay, live in Montana. They have three grown children and six grandchildren.

Meet Barry Ladd. He is a family physician who practiced medicine for thirty years in a small country town, forty miles south of a major city. He calls it "Our Town", because the residents, including himself, so personally identified with the community. In the thirty years that Ladd practiced in "Our Town", he delivered fifteen hundred babies and had one hundred and eighty thousand office visits. He delivered the babies of the babies, and took care of four generations in the same family. During that time, there was an explosion of technology and scientific information. The practice of medicine shifted from being more of an art to being more of a science. During this time, Ladd was a participant and observer. He saw how personal events and decisions played out over time. He tells his readers what he saw, heard, and felt. These are all true stories. Some are composites of several people. The names have been changed.

In the years after the Second World War, a young doctor took up his post in one of the most remote regions of northern Minnesota. His term of service turned into a lifetime of caring for the people who made this isolated and often lonely place their home. The story of this remarkable adventure in frontline medicine forms the heart of this wonderful book. As a storyteller, MacDonald shows us the beauty of this remote region and the charm of those who make their lives there. With respect, affection, and humility, MacDonald relates his experiences with those who placed their well being in his hands. The result is a warm and warm-hearted tale of the life of a north country doctor.

In this quietly revolutionary work of social observation and medical philosophy, Booker Prize-winning writer John Berger and the photographer Jean Mohr train their gaze on an English country doctor and find a universal man--one who has taken it upon himself to recognize his patient's humanity when illness and the fear of death have made them unrecognizable to themselves. In the impoverished rural community in which he works, John Sassall tend the maimed, the dying, and the lonely. He is not only the dispenser of cures but the repository of memories. And as Berger and Mohr follow Sassall about his rounds, they produce a book whose careful detail broadens into a meditation on the value we assign a human life. First published thirty years ago, A Fortunate Man remains moving and deeply relevant--no other book has offered such a close and passionate investigation of the roles doctors play in their society. "In contemporary letters John Berger seems to me peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience." --Susan Sontag

An anthology that addresses the changing nature of rural medicine in the United States "These authors courageously document the emotional and literally physical vulnerabilities they experience while delivering care in rural communities. ... This book exquisitely illustrates the complexity of 'dual relationships' and boundary issues in rural practice."--Family Medicine Over the past thirty years, rural health care in the United States has changed dramatically. The stereotypical white-haired doctor with his black bag of instruments and his predominantly white, small-town clientele has imploded: the global age has reached rural America. Independently owned clinics have given way to a massive system of hospitals; new technology now brings specialists right to the patient's bedside; and an increasingly diverse clientele has sparked the need for doctors and nurses with an equally diverse assortment of skills. The Country Doctor Revisited is a fascinating collection of essays, poems, and short stories written by rural health care professionals on the experiences of doctors and nurses practicing medicine in rural environments, such as farms, reservations, and migrant camps. The pieces explore the benefits and burdens of new technology, the dilemmas in making ethically sound decisions, and the trials of caring for patients in a broken system. Alternately compelling, thought provoking, and moving, they speak of the diversity of rural health care providers, the range of patients served in rural communities, the variety of settings that comprise the rural United States, and the resources and challenges health care providers and patients face today.

In turn heartbreaking, irreverent, moving—and at times raucously humorous—one of the nation's leading pediatric researchers recounts his first years as a newly minted, stuggling, and insecure doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. A graduate of a state university medical school, Scott Rivkees was competing with elite students from some of the most prestigious schools in the country. Nervous and uncertain, he worked unholy hours with patients ranging from indigent street people to celebrity guests drawn to the reputation and care offered by Mass General. Along the way he learned what medical school textbooks don't teach: how to deal with immense pressure, exhaustion, unruly patients, mysterious conditions, the joy of saving a life, and the wrenching suddenness of losing a patient, more often than not a young child. His resident education did not prevent him from losing his sense of irony and humor as he recounts bleary nights on the town, the allure of young nurses, substandard housing, and the value of pricking an inflated ego.

Critical illness is a fact of life. Even those of us who enjoy decades of good health are touched by it eventually, either in our own lives or in those of our loved ones. And when this happens, we grapple with serious and often confusing choices about how best to live with our afflictions. A Life Worth Living is a book for people facing these difficult decisions. Robert Martensen, a physician, historian, and ethicist, draws on decades of experience with patients and friends to explore the life cycle of serious illness, from diagnosis to end of life. He connects personal stories with reflections upon mortality, human agency, and the value of “cutting-edge” technology in caring for the critically ill. Timely questions emerge: To what extent should efforts to extend human life be made? What is the value of nontraditional medical treatment? How has the American health-care system affected treatment of the critically ill? And finally, what are our doctors’ responsibilities to us as patients, and where do those responsibilities end? Using poignant case studies, Martensen demonstrates how we and our loved ones can maintain dignity and resilience in the face of life’s most daunting circumstances.