Synopses & Reviews
The first time you have to deliver bad news to a parent. The tenth screaming baby you've seen today. The thousandth time you've stayed just a bit later than your shift, helping one more sick child. Every one of these kids has a story, and so does each doctor who treats them.
Unusual diagnoses. Heartbreaking losses. Triumphant healing. From med student to intern to practicing specialist, The Real Life of a Pediatrician traces the careers of these family practitioners. When children are the patients, so much can be at stake, and emotions often run high. How do you tell a mother that her child has a terminal illness? What do you do when your patient is too young to tell you what's wrong with him? This anthology features first-person narratives from the students and doctors who have devoted their careers to this path, and offers an unblinking look at daily life in the field.
Other books in the Kaplan Voices: Doctors series will focus on internal medicine, psychiatry, anesthesiology, oncology, geriatrics, and surgery, the most prominent specialties today.
About the Author
Perri Klass, MD, is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University. She attended Harvard Medical School and completed her residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital, Boston, and her fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Boston City Hospital.
Perri has written extensively about medicine, children, literacy, and knitting. Her nonfiction includes Every Mother is a Daughter, which she coauthored with her mother, and Quirky Kids: Understanding and Helping Your Child Who Doesn't Fit In, which she coauthored with Eileen Costello. She is also the author of two collections and other works of fiction, including the novels The Mystery of Breathing and Other Women's Children. Her most recent books are Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor and The Mercy Rule, which was released in July 2008.
Her short stories have won five O. Henry Awards, and in 2006, she was the recipient of the Women's National Book Association Award. She is a longtime member of the executive board of PEN New England, which she chaired from 2004 to 2006.