No Apparent Distress – A Doctor`s Coming–of–Age on the Front Lines of American Medicine - Hardcover

Pearson, Rachel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393249247 ISBN 13: 9780393249248

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017

Synopsis

In medical charts, the term "N.A.D." (No Apparent Distress) is used for patients who appear stable. The phrase also aptly describes America's medical system when it comes to treating the underprivileged. Medical students learn on the bodies of the poor-and the poor suffer from their mistakes. Rachel Pearson confronted these harsh realities when she started medical school in Galveston, Texas. Pearson, herself from a working-class background, remains haunted by the suicide of a close friend, experiences firsthand the heartbreak of her own errors in a patient's care, and witnesses the ruinous effects of a hurricane on a Texas town's medical system. In a free clinic where the motto is "All Are Welcome Here," she learns how to practice medicine with love and tenacity amidst the raging injustices of a system that favors the rich and the white. No Apparent Distress is at once an indictment of American health care and a deeply moving tale of one doctor's coming-of-age.

About this title

Review:

Passionate....one of the better doctor-in-training books.

Educative and thoughtful....Pearson's inspired collective of illuminating clinical episodes immediately sparks to life....Eloquently and briskly written.

Engrossing....Pearson's vivid writing sometimes lulls you into the trance of a good story--character, voice, plot, conflict--but there's always the sucker punch at the end to remind you of the gruesome endpoint of the American healthcare system....Her literary skill is apparent in her book. Her courage, honesty and doggedness are evident on every page.--Danielle Ofri

No Apparent Distress is filled with the moving stories of a medical student's journey providing health care at the margins of American life. Rachel Pearson shines a spotlight on the brutal inequalities present within our healthcare system.--Damon Tweedy, MD, author of Black Man in a White Coat

About the Author:

Rachel Pearson, MD, PhD, is a resident physician who also holds a PhD from the Institute for the Medical Humanities. Her writing has appeared in Scientific American, the Guardian, the Texas Observer, and the New York Times Book Review.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0393249247
• ISBN 13: 9780393249248
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272