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Die Once Live Twice
From the heart and mind of world-renowned orthopedic surgeon, Lawrence Dorr, M.D., comes an unforgettable historical novel, Die Once Live Twice, that combines a physician s skill, intellect and knowledge of medicine with wonderful story-telling,
creating a book that celebrates the origins and miracle of modern medicine.
Die Once Live Twice is an epic page-turner that begins in Philadelphia before the Civil War and carries us through to the eve of World War II, bringing to life the drama of scientific discovery and the extraordinary achievements of modern medicine from its early days to the pioneering use of vaccinations, never-before performed surgeries, and finally to the discovery of penicillin. A who s who of the history of medicine, this novel seamlessly weaves together memorable fictional characters with medical luminaries of the 19th and early 20th century, telling the story of the miracle workers who changed the face of medical care forever.
The story begins in 1850, when eleven-year-old Katherine Lovington must care for a mother dying of breast cancer. This agonizing experience transforms her life, and she vows to find a way to help medicine truly heal rather than simply offer morphine and sympathy.
Lawrence Dorr has created compelling characters who struggle for their lives as we witness the first radical mastectomy, see the administration of the first antitoxin against diphtheria and witness breakthroughs in orthopedic surgery. As readers, we witness the unfolding of medical history and share the very triumphs of effort, insight and courage over superstition, fear, and ignorance that the doctors of the day experienced. Together we live through the vivid and powerful lives of those whose dreams changed the world.
creating a book that celebrates the origins and miracle of modern medicine.
Die Once Live Twice is an epic page-turner that begins in Philadelphia before the Civil War and carries us through to the eve of World War II, bringing to life the drama of scientific discovery and the extraordinary achievements of modern medicine from its early days to the pioneering use of vaccinations, never-before performed surgeries, and finally to the discovery of penicillin. A who s who of the history of medicine, this novel seamlessly weaves together memorable fictional characters with medical luminaries of the 19th and early 20th century, telling the story of the miracle workers who changed the face of medical care forever.
The story begins in 1850, when eleven-year-old Katherine Lovington must care for a mother dying of breast cancer. This agonizing experience transforms her life, and she vows to find a way to help medicine truly heal rather than simply offer morphine and sympathy.
Lawrence Dorr has created compelling characters who struggle for their lives as we witness the first radical mastectomy, see the administration of the first antitoxin against diphtheria and witness breakthroughs in orthopedic surgery. As readers, we witness the unfolding of medical history and share the very triumphs of effort, insight and courage over superstition, fear, and ignorance that the doctors of the day experienced. Together we live through the vivid and powerful lives of those whose dreams changed the world.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 7, 2024
“Memories are death’s only love.” A absorbing account of medical advances from the Civil War up to the post World War II era, told in novel form, centered on a family through the generations dedicated to discovering medical advances to reduce death and suffering. The accounts of surgery during the Civil War—done under a tree while the doctor smokes a cigar—are harrowing. How pneumonia killed so many, known as “Captain of Men’s Death.” Germ theory, Louis Pasteur and his protégé, Joseph Lister, John Hopkins, TB (#1 cause of death, with pneumonia second as of 1910), the Spanish Influenza of World War I, cancer, typhoid, diphtheira, polio, smallpox, yellow fever (from mosquitos), diabetes and insulin, sterilization, antibiotics, vaccines, blood transfusions, radiation, chemotherapy, Penicillin (and how its discovery helped lead the Allies to victory in World War II), it’s all here. We take it for granted today, but the title of this book, Die Once, Live Twice, says it all: Most things that killed us back in the day can be easily prevented or cured today. John Hopkins was a wealthy businessman and financier was one of the early investors in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He died in 1873 and bequeathed seven million dollars to establish a university and hospital in his name, one of the first medical schools to admit women. It also challenged the practice of granting medical degrees after only two years of study. Med students at Hopkins would need a college degree requiring four years and taught patient contact. “After the death of his three year-old son from scarlet fever, John D. Rockefeller had funded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.” By 1914, only 95 medical schools existed in the USA. It reinforces how stupid our tax and economic policies are that prevent wealth from being created, then donated to fund education, research, and discoveries. But the wealth comes first. Another lesson is that economic downturns—even Depressions—don’t cause the creative mind of human to stop. An economy doesn’t get “tired,” and humans are resilient.
I liked the author’s summation in the Acknowledgments:
“I teach surgeons that they will learn four things while they are in medicine, as I did: the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, that there is a God but they are not Him, and to give back better than they take. Die Once, Live Twice is a testament to the suffering and exhilaration that accompanied the arduous and dangerous research that advanced medicine.”
Coupled with David Wootton’s book, Bad Medicine, this novel taught me a lot. A worthwhile and educational read that will fill you with gratitude that you live in the best of times.
Notable
“It’s all because of George Bernard Shaw,” laughed Park. “He opposed vaccinations. Because von Behring originally used guinea pigs to develop the diphtheria antitoxin, Shaw compared these animals to the children being inoculated. He said the children were simply guinea pigs and the term stuck for any experimentation by doctors.”
I liked the author’s summation in the Acknowledgments:
“I teach surgeons that they will learn four things while they are in medicine, as I did: the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, that there is a God but they are not Him, and to give back better than they take. Die Once, Live Twice is a testament to the suffering and exhilaration that accompanied the arduous and dangerous research that advanced medicine.”
Coupled with David Wootton’s book, Bad Medicine, this novel taught me a lot. A worthwhile and educational read that will fill you with gratitude that you live in the best of times.
Notable
“It’s all because of George Bernard Shaw,” laughed Park. “He opposed vaccinations. Because von Behring originally used guinea pigs to develop the diphtheria antitoxin, Shaw compared these animals to the children being inoculated. He said the children were simply guinea pigs and the term stuck for any experimentation by doctors.”
May 29, 2020
There's lots of pain and suffering in this book. Medicine has certainly come far.
December 7, 2013
Teenager Katherine Lovington, daughter of the richest man in Philadelphia in the 1860s, loses her mother to breast cancer (doctors didn't even know what cancer was then...just a death sentence) and before she turns 26 years old, also loses her father, her grandmother, and her husband (who was shot in the femur during the Civil War and in those days it was amputate or die); he convinced the doctor not to amputate his leg. Medicine just hadn't advanced enough to cure disease.
As I read this 400-page story, I couldn't help but being reminded over and over just how much medicine has advanced over time. I add that in the age of over-abundance just what a miracle a long, healthy life was. Children could live as easily as die, and people died of pneumonia. Dr. Lawrence Dorr states in this story that World War I was the first war where disease was not the number one killer.
Headstrong Katherine had chosen to enter the family's shipping and textile business around the time she was married to the son of her father's business partner. Long before all of their deaths and her inheritance of the very successful business and its revenue streams, she had already decided to devote her life and her immense wealth to advancing medicine.
Now...what she decided to do with her life and wealth raises some interesting thoughts. For instance, estate tax is one of the more wrongheaded levies ever conceived. Only the willfully blind would believe the U.S. government has a revenue problem when what we have is a spending problem. This is evidenced by the annual spending increases on all sorts of things that our government is not constitutionally empowered to involve itself in.
Okay, now that that point is made, remember that when we tax inheritance we are reducing the base of available capital that the wealthy generously donate to fund the advancement of health, technology, and even transportation. But, when the wealthy are taxed, the government tautologically reduces the earnings and life chances of those who are not wealthy.
Sorry, but that statement is absolutely true. Jobs and wages are a function of investment, and the rich, by virtue of being rich, have the means to invest their disposable funds. And, in Katherine's case, she devotes her life and wealth to the advancement of medical science.
Please don't miss the point by saying that not all recipients of great or grand fortunes possess Katherine's singular, life-enhancing focus. Good Gads, even the most prodigal of heirs can't possibly spend all of the money at once. And banks don't accept deposits just to sit on the cash. No they don't! They take the deposits and turn them into assets (READ: in the form of loans).
Anyway, it wasn't Katherine's money alone that moved medicine forward...she, like her mother, developed breast cancer. BUT, doctors at John's Hopkins believed they could remove the cancerous tumor from her breast with an until-that-time-untried mastectomy. Her doctor says she's "a living experiment" and that just cannot be stressed enough. While she was a woman of substantial means and a major Hopkins benefactor who had access to the best medical care in the 19th c (which would make those who are so small that they would wring their hands), Katherine was still nothing more than a guinea pig.
Katherine does survive...gets her chance to live twice, but what she does in addition to giving her life and money to medical science is that she gives future medical doctors information they will need to save countless lives.
What the author DOES NOT hide is the fact that the rich of this country through patronage with physicians and scientists have and continue help make great strides possible. BUT, when government policy favors fleecing the rich, it's the non-rich who will suffer. IF the government will just get out of the way, the healthcare enjoyed by the rich will (think Lasik among many other treatments) be mass produced by entrepreneurs so that the obscure becomes common.
What's disturbing is that both sides on the congressional aisle think they can arrogantly set the prices doctors should charge...the doctors who have studied and worked hard to become medical professionals (which no one in congress is).
As I read this 400-page story, I couldn't help but being reminded over and over just how much medicine has advanced over time. I add that in the age of over-abundance just what a miracle a long, healthy life was. Children could live as easily as die, and people died of pneumonia. Dr. Lawrence Dorr states in this story that World War I was the first war where disease was not the number one killer.
Headstrong Katherine had chosen to enter the family's shipping and textile business around the time she was married to the son of her father's business partner. Long before all of their deaths and her inheritance of the very successful business and its revenue streams, she had already decided to devote her life and her immense wealth to advancing medicine.
Now...what she decided to do with her life and wealth raises some interesting thoughts. For instance, estate tax is one of the more wrongheaded levies ever conceived. Only the willfully blind would believe the U.S. government has a revenue problem when what we have is a spending problem. This is evidenced by the annual spending increases on all sorts of things that our government is not constitutionally empowered to involve itself in.
Okay, now that that point is made, remember that when we tax inheritance we are reducing the base of available capital that the wealthy generously donate to fund the advancement of health, technology, and even transportation. But, when the wealthy are taxed, the government tautologically reduces the earnings and life chances of those who are not wealthy.
Sorry, but that statement is absolutely true. Jobs and wages are a function of investment, and the rich, by virtue of being rich, have the means to invest their disposable funds. And, in Katherine's case, she devotes her life and wealth to the advancement of medical science.
Please don't miss the point by saying that not all recipients of great or grand fortunes possess Katherine's singular, life-enhancing focus. Good Gads, even the most prodigal of heirs can't possibly spend all of the money at once. And banks don't accept deposits just to sit on the cash. No they don't! They take the deposits and turn them into assets (READ: in the form of loans).
Anyway, it wasn't Katherine's money alone that moved medicine forward...she, like her mother, developed breast cancer. BUT, doctors at John's Hopkins believed they could remove the cancerous tumor from her breast with an until-that-time-untried mastectomy. Her doctor says she's "a living experiment" and that just cannot be stressed enough. While she was a woman of substantial means and a major Hopkins benefactor who had access to the best medical care in the 19th c (which would make those who are so small that they would wring their hands), Katherine was still nothing more than a guinea pig.
Katherine does survive...gets her chance to live twice, but what she does in addition to giving her life and money to medical science is that she gives future medical doctors information they will need to save countless lives.
What the author DOES NOT hide is the fact that the rich of this country through patronage with physicians and scientists have and continue help make great strides possible. BUT, when government policy favors fleecing the rich, it's the non-rich who will suffer. IF the government will just get out of the way, the healthcare enjoyed by the rich will (think Lasik among many other treatments) be mass produced by entrepreneurs so that the obscure becomes common.
What's disturbing is that both sides on the congressional aisle think they can arrogantly set the prices doctors should charge...the doctors who have studied and worked hard to become medical professionals (which no one in congress is).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews