Doctors

by Martin O'Malley

Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Martin Joseph O'Malley was a Canadian journalist and writer. He wrote for CBC News and The Globe and Mail. O'Malley was perhaps best known for a Globe and Mail editorial in which he coined the line about laws that criminalized homosexual behavior which Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau later made famous: "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."

Reviews

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm continuing with May's nonfiction trend. June seems to be heavy on medical books, both fiction and nonfiction. Doctors, is a series of essays (newspaper articles, I think) about different Canadian doctors. A variety of skills and fields are covered in this book but the author's own interpretations of his interviewees' perspectives gets in the way. While reading the book I felt too much like a captive audience forced to listen to O'Malley's views on life, politics, religion and so forth. O'Malley's essays fall into a common trap of nonfiction writing; he makes them too much about himself rather than the people he's covering.

I did come away learning a few things about doctors. I learned that the medical profession has a higher than average suicide rate (except among pediatricians who are the happiest of the lot). Drug and alcohol abuse is high and self esteem among doctors sucks. Basically it's a high stress field with "no margin of error" (that quote comes from Lucky Man, a much better book I'll be reviewing in a few days).