Incidental Findings: Lessons from My Patients in the Art of Medicine

In Singular Intimacies, which the New England Journal of Medicine said captured the “essence of becoming and being a doctor,” Danielle Ofri led us into the hectic, constantly challenging world of big-city medicine. In Incidental Findings, shes finished her training and is learning through practice to become a more rounded healer.

“Ofris thoughtful and honest second book—the title is inspired by her realization, during her own amniocentesis, that conditions that seem minor to doctors are monumental when they happen to you—is equal parts The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Kitchen Confidential.” —Nicholas Confessore, New York Times Book Review

“Dr. Ofri, a physician, distills wisdom from the maelstrom of New York Citys Bellevue Hospital in this emotional memoir. In a series of poignant vignettes, the internist grapples with the hearts of the sick, literally and metaphorically. Her patients range from the terminally ill to manipulative hypochondriacs, from veiled Bangladeshi women to convicted felons. A must-read for students of psychology and medicine in need of a lesson in compassion.” —Psychology Today

“Danielle Ofri is a finely gifted writer, a born storyteller as well as a born physician.” —Oliver Sacks

Dr. Danielle Ofri, author of Singular Intimacies (Beacon / 7252-4 / $24.00 hc), is an attending physician at Bellevue and the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the Bellevue Literary Review. She is currently a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and the New England Journal of Medicine.

In Singular Intimacies, which the New England Journal of Medicine said captured the'essence of becoming and being a doctor,' Danielle Ofri led us into the hectic, constantly challenging world of big-city medicine. In Incidental Findings, she's finished her training and is learning through practice to become a more rounded healer. The book opens with a dramatic tale of the tables being turned on Dr. Ofri: She's had to shed the precious white coat and credentials she worked so hard to earn and enter her own hospital as a patient. She experiences the real'slight prick and pressure' of a long needle as well as the very real sense of invasion and panic that routinely visits her patients.

These fifteen intertwined tales include 'Living Will,' where Dr. Ofri treats a man who has lost the will to live, and she too comes dangerously close to concluding that he has nothing to live for;'Common Ground,' in which a patient's difficult decision to have an abortion highlights the vulnerabilities of doctor and patient alike;'Acne,' where she is confronted by a patient whose physical and emotional abuse she can't possibly heal, so she must settle on treating the one thing she can, the least of her patient's problems; and finally a stunning concluding chapter,'Tools of the Trade,' where Dr. Ofri's touch is the last in a woman's long life.

Dr. Danielle Ofri, author of Singular Intimacies, is an attending physician at Bellevue and the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the Bellevue Literary Review. She is currently a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and the New England Journal of Medicine.