Surgery News - November 2008 - (Page 25)

NOVEMBER 2008 • SURGERY NEWS PRACTICE TRENDS THE REST OF YOUR LIFE 25 Revering the Work of Physician Writers ell before he attended medical school at Columbia University, New York, Dr. Daniel C. Bryant had been captivated by reading and writing, an interest underscored by an undergraduate degree in French literature from Princeton (N.J.) University. In the 1980s, he began to notice that scores of physicians both past and present had written books on nonmedical topics, so he started combing through reference books and secondhand book shops to collect them in earnest. “The original motivation to collect these books was a combination of my own interest in writing and vicarious writing in a way,” explained Dr. Bryant, who practiced internal medicine for 28 years in Portland, Maine, before retiring in 1999. “But also it occurred to me in my practice that doctors are so privileged in their access to human experience. They generally have such wonderful educations and wonderful opportunities to see all sorts of people and to travel and to have cultural experiences. They are the ideal people, it seemed to me, to comment on human experience.” Names of physician writers such as Dr. William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), a pediatrician and poet, came to mind right away, Dr. Bryant said. To locate nonmedical works by other physicians, he tapped into a number of sources, including the reference guide “Contemporary Authors”; “Poetry and the Doctors” by Charles L. Dana (Woodstock, N.Y.: The Elm Tree Press, 1916); “Literature and Medicine: An Annotated Bibliography” by Joanne Trautmann and Carol Pollard (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982); and secondhand book shops. During occasional trips to England with his wife he located many books in Hay-onWye in Wales, which is “just a village in Wales, but it’s almost entirely book shops,” Dr. Bryant said. “We would often spend a few days there, and I’d get a backpack full of books.” Before the Internet, “the only way to really find out who had what books was through catalogues,” he said. “I was on the mailing list of many secondhand book shops. I’d get these lists in the mail and spend a few hours a week going through them.” Favorite books he collected include Dr. William Carlos Williams’s first editions and “The Silver River” (out of print, 1938), the first book by Dr. Alex Comfort, who is perhaps best known for “The Joy of Sex” (New York: Crown 1972). Dr. Bryant also became a fan of the poet Dannie Abse, a radiologist in Wales who writes poetry and plays, and has penned five novels. “He represents what I was hoping to find: using the medical experience as a window into the bigger human experience and commenting on human experience as a doctor.” By 2004, he had collected more than 1,100 physician-penned books, so he donated them to New York University’s Ehrman Medical Library, which established the Bryant Collection of Physician Writers, a permanent collection that is believed to be the largest of its kind COURTESY DR. DANIEL C. BRYANT W (library.med.nyu.edu/library/ eresources/featuredcollections/ bryant). “I’ve had many e-mails and contacts from doctors who write or try to write,” said Dr. Bryant, who has published poems and essays in medical journals, written short stories for literary magazines, and crossword puzzles for the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He hopes that the Bryant Collection of Physician Writers “will inspire medical students and other medical people to take down a book and look at it or even spur them on to do a little writing themselves.” ■ By Doug Brunk, Elsevier Global Medical News Dr. Daniel C. Bryant donated his collection of physician-penned books to New York University’s Ehrman Medical Library. EXAMINE THE ETHICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE ISSUES YOU FACE EVERY DAY A case-based educational resource for surgeons at all stages of their careers, ETHICAL ISSUES IN CLINICAL SURGERY has all the components needed to help surgeons and residents examine the ethical underpinnings of clinical practice and address the ethical issues they face every day caring for their patients Ethical Issues in Clinical Surgery was developed by the Committee on Ethics of the American College of Surgeons. TOPICS • Framework for considering ethical issues in clinical surgery • Competition of interests • Truth telling and the surgeon-patient relationship • Conﬁdentiality • Professional obligations of surgeons • End-of-life issues • Substitute decision making FEATURES OF EACH CHAPTER • • • • • • • Realistic surgery-based cases Learning objectives Questions for discussion Analyses of cases and questions Bioethics bottom line Suggested readings Glossary and additional resources Ethical Issues in Clinical Surgery Edited by Mary H. McGrath, MD, MPH, FACS There are two versions of the book: one for course instructors and practicing surgeons that has CME credit available, and one for use with residents. Pricing and ordering information can be found at http://www.facs.org/education/ethicalissuesinclinicalsurgery.html or by calling 312/202-5335. AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS • DIVISION OF EDUCATION http://library.med.nyu.edu/library/eresources/featuredcollections/bryant http://library.med.nyu.edu/library/eresources/featuredcollections/bryant http://library.med.nyu.edu/library/eresources/featuredcollections/bryant http://www.facs.org/education/ethicalissuesinclinicalsurgery.html

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Surgery News - November 2008

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