Review (PDF) Kill As Few Patients As Possible: And 56 Other Essays On How To Be The World's Best Doctor
In this book is advice that will gladden -- and possibly strengthen -- the hearts of patients and doctors alike. With unassailable logic and rapier wit, Dr. Oscar London defends his claim to be the World's Best Doctor by explaining the 57 rules he follows. Follow along as you laugh and learn how your own physician can become the world's second best doctor.
Paperback: 120 pages
Publisher: Ten Speed Press; 1 edition (March 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 089815197X
ISBN-13: 978-0898151978
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #243,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #76 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Doctors & Medicine #165 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Business & Professional #473 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Health Care Delivery
Dr London provides 57 vignettes peppered with his dry humor and eloquence. Each is only a few pages, making for good "bathroom reading". Overall, the book is a must-read for young doctors and medical students. These pearls provide the benefits of his experience and insight in an entertaining and easily digestable format. Some are light, some serious, all are instructive in the qualities modern physicians should strive to embody.
If you're looking for the perfect gift for the newly med grad, this is certainly it!! You can't put down this book; you start off smiling and you soon end up laughing so hard that if you read it at night you'll probably wake up everybody. Although patients might get a few laughs as well, the book is really meant for doctors and each of the 57 rules to live by are absolutely true. London (a pseudonym), himself an M.D. and self-appointed W.B.D. (world's best doctor), is a seasoned writer and delivers good advice for the rocky road of medicine. I reread it whenever things get tough and I always feel refreshed. Excellent book!!
Oh geez, I have never laughed so hard. This guy is definitely one of the funniest doctors and columnists that ever existed. I needed something to lighten the research I am doing currently on eugenics and the deaf community for my dissertation, and this book fit the bill. London, if that is really his name, had a capacity to see the humorous and explain it to the general public in such a way, that we see the the situation as he perceives it. That is the sign of a great writer. He also obviously takes his whole profession with a large grain of salt, which is so widely missing in most physicians. It's like the teach LackofHumor 101 in medical schools...they are not allowed to be funny or see anything funny in what they do. Thank heavens London does not feel that way, or we would be missing some major yuks! London is a verbal slap-stick version of a doctor, along the line of the Three Stooges and Andy Rooney mixed together. I totally plan on making some of my doctor friends read this so they get a sense of humor! Karen Sadler, Science education, University of Pittsburgh
If only more doctors could be like Dr. London...A healthy dose of humor and a heartful of compassion. He tells his stories from his side of the bedside (so to speak...)taking you inside the profession - and not taking himself to seriously. Yet, you always know that he takes caring for his patients quite seriously. Dr. London's unique, frank, intelligently funny anecdotes are even funnier when read outloud. His book should be required reading for all med students. He's not afraid to demystify the mysterious world of medicine, reminding us we are all frail humans and the more we laugh through life, the better -and that includes laughing at ourselves.
I am a physician, so reading Dr. London's semihumorous review of how he has survived the vagaries of office practice and been an advocate for his patients has been a confirmation of some of my own prejudices. Some of his revelations, such the fact that physicians don't know everything nor diagnose every disease accurately, may come as a shock to some people. Medicine involves one imperfect human being caring for a series of similarly flawed people who happen to be sick and distressed by their illness. It's a miracle, given the variability of illness, and the tendency of patients to deviate from the "textbook" descriptions, that we save as many as we do. The book injects a needed reality into the mysterious world of office practice, which is far different from the hospital environment usually dramatized on TV.It's a worthwhile addition to the popular medical literature; it won't tell you how to cure your ulcer or stave off a heart attack, but it will tell you what makes your doctor tick. Bravo, Dr. London!
AS A PRACTICING PHYSICIAN I READ THIS PERSONALIZED ESSAY COLLECTION PERIODICALLY JUST TO BRING MYSELF BACK TO EARTH. WE TEND TO BELIEVE THE HYPE AND BEHAVE TOO GOD-LIKE. LONDON PROVIDES A BREATH OF FRESH AIR WE ALL NEED FROM TIME TO TIME.
This important, serious little book of collected short essays was sensitively written in a light-hearted style by "Dr. Oscar London, M.D., WBD" ["World's Best Doctor"], pseudonym for a Berkeley, California internist. The essays, published in the San Francisco Chronicle about 30 years ago, tell the reader much about physicians and how to be a successful patient. Such subjects as what doctors and patients want to be called by each other, whether the use of first names may or may not be appropriate, depending on the person saying it, the person it's being said to, and the circumstance, are skillfully addressed. Highly recommended for all people who work in a clinical setting as well as their adult patients, it would be an excellent choice for a gift.
Though I am a non-physician health care professional, I think non-medical people will enjoy this book as well. I laughed so hard I cried, as did the friends to whom I was reading.
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