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This deeply informative, thoroughly fascinating book makes an important contribution to debates about the broken American healthcare industry. A retired urologist, Author Young draws on a career that gave him the experiences not only to write a compelling memoir but also the wisdom to make a credible and incisive assessment of the medical system. He narrates his journey through medical school, the challenges of establishing a practice, and frustrations of complex bureaucracy. As a urologist, he saw his share of gruesome injuries and illnesses involving intimate parts of the anatomy. For example, one chapter is disturbingly titled “The Fractured Testicle.” Descriptions of complex urological cases are informative, and readers will gain detailed knowledge of prostate ailments, in particular. However, Young’s ethos extends beyond his specialization, as he delves into various healthcare topics such as overhyping of pharmaceuticals, rampant litigation, and problems with current medical training.
Young denigrates currently popular medical dramas (Grey’s Anatomy, for example) for using medicine as the backdrop for soap opera. Instead, he was inspired by older medical programming that captured the grit of the field. Young has the storyteller’s gifts of description, timing, and humor. Even more impressive is the skill with which he ties the argument together at the end. Modern medicine is a confusing morass, but with surgical skill, Young cuts apart the overlapping strands: the greed of the insurance industry and medical malpractice lawyers, patient self-diagnosis (via online research) and self-entitlement, hospitals being run like businesses, and medical schools failing to promote curiosity, leading to overspecialization. This timely book is a rare blend of useful information, entertaining stories, and well-reasoned critique—all tied together with Young’s learned, idealistic, and somewhat melancholy authorial voice. His book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the state of modern medicine, or anyone who simply enjoys an earnest argument supported by engaging storytelling.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review