M D One Doctor's Adventures Among the Famous and Infamous from the Jungles of Panama to a Park Avenue Practice
- New York Ballantine Books 1990
- xiii,402 p. HB 24x16 cm.
This is a biographical narrative from a doctor whose expertise in parasitology led him to become a physician or a consulting physician to the rich and famous. The stories are fascinating. I was bothered by the author's arrogance at times, and his naïveté at other times. What disturbed me most, since I have come from a family of physicians and scientists, was the way the author revealed intimate details of his patients' lives, behavior, and personal medical histories for the sake of sensationalist writing. I can only assume the interesting characters revealed within are now deceased, making such tattletale accounts immune from lawsuit. The eminent Dr. Kean is also now sadly deceased, as well. I felt embarrassed for the patients, colorful as they might have been. But, the accounts were interesting. I think I was more fascinated by the parasitology than the famous and flamboyant characters so infected. But, that is just the scientist in me. Make sure you have not eaten before reading the one about the tapeworm in the uranium king