Chen, Pauline - Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality

[oyceter]

As the title notes, the book is Pauline Chen's own reflections on mortality throughout her medical career, from her first experiences with dissecting cadavers in med school to her current thoughts on how end-of-life care should be dealt with by the medical community.

I read this with a gap of a few months between finishing, since the book was overdue at the library, and then I forgot about it. I vaguely remember noting to myself something about ablism and always getting the professional's point of view on disease and mortality and such. I don't think it was so much a critique of the book so much as an observation of what I've seen focused on when I've been trawling through fun medical non-fiction reading (sometimes I have odd classifications of "fun.") Given that this is a surgeon's memoir, I don't expect much client POV, but it does have me wanting more stories from the client's POV, particularly when it comes to things like terminal illnesses, end-of-life care, and such.

For the obvious reasons, this isn't necessarily the most uplifting of books, but I thought Chen dealt with the topic well. It's very much a surgeon's memoir, which means though she touches on end-of-life care and hospices and such, much of the POV is that of a surgeon's as opposed to the person either receiving the care or the nurses and such of a hospital, who see more of the people outside of operating rooms. Chen muses a bit on the surgeon philosophy contrasted with other branches of medicine, and though her prose is lovely and interesting, she didn't end up covering a lot of territory I hadn't already known. That said, this is a graceful, contemplative book.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

Oh, I read this a while back. I thought it was a critique of doctors' attitudes about death, dying, and "failure" to cure - generally, a profound discomfort which often translates into hurtful or at least non-optimal interactions with patients.

I too thought it was well-written, but a bit 101. I mean, it would be great for someone who wants 101. But like you, I was already quite familiar with a lot of what she covered.

There are tons of books written from the patient's POV, though they tend to be more personal than analytical. Want recs? For any particular physical illness/disability/mental illness?

[oyceter]

Yeah, I thought it was definitely a critique of that as well. I think, like you said, it would have been more interesting if I hadn't read things about end-of-life care and the medical profession's general want to "cure" and "fix" everything and how that intersects with terminal illnesses.

Hrm, I think I am looking for more analytical stuff from the patient's POV, though personal is also good! Any recs welcome! I don't think I have a particular area I'm looking for, though ++ for authors from less represented POVs.

[pylduck]

it would be interesting to read asian american doctors' memoirs together as a genre!

[oyceter]

Heh, I think I have unintentionally been doing that! Not memoirs necessarily, but I think all the doctors' works have a bit of their POV in there... I started with Atul Gawande, am now reading V.S. Ramachandran, and have Siddhartha Mukherjee's book on cancer on hold! (Not sure if all of them ID as hyphenate or not though...)

[pylduck]

btw would you mind if i link this post at asianamlitfans.livejournal.com?

[oyceter]

Not at all! (Oooo, didn't realize that comm existed... must check it out soon!)