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M.D.: One Doctor's Adventures Among the Famous and Infamous from the Jungles of Panama to a Park Avenue Practice
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 20, 2022
Excellent read and he had an interesting life. Great stories about Panama, Germany after WW2, The Shah, and a few quirky rich people. Only problem is now I I’m worried I have a three foot tapeworm inside of me. The power of suggestion. 😀
January 2, 2016
As a lover of physician memoirs, I enjoyed reading this book, though I found some of his tangents a bit distracting and would have liked him to stick to the format he employed in the last few chapters of the book (and sprinkled throughout the rest of the narrative), where he used case studies from throughout his career to highlight important discoveries he and his colleagues had made, unique situations he faced, and the celebrities who entrusted him with the care of their most personal issues.
Kean served as a physician primarily from the 1930s to the early 1980s, prior to my birth and a period of time which, with the exception of World War II, was covered at a bare minimum in my school history classes. Therefore, many of the historical events in which he played a role were foreign to me. In particular, I only knew the vaguest details about the Iran hostage crisis, so Kean's explanation of his role in treating the deposed Shah of Iran and how it led to the crisis was news to me. I would be interested in reading another perspective, as Kean was very pro-Shah, and I suspect that the sentiments of the time were largely anti-Shah, even before the new leaders of Iran took Americans hostage.
In addition to treating the Shah of Iran, Kean found his greatest fame in being a tropical medicine doctor, with special attention to parasites, in particular those that affected the GI tract. I took a class on parasites in college as an elective in my major, so I was already familiar with those Kean described, but our class dealt primarily with them in the veterinary sense as opposed to the effects they had on humans, so it was interesting to hear how he treated his patients, especially in the sense that he didn't have many of the treatments or diagnostic tools at his avail that we do today. His concluding chapter, in which he revisited some of the afflictions he mentioned earlier in the book, was fascinating, as these were illnesses he had only seen sporadically or during his time as a doctor in Panama in the 1930s that were now seen commonly in America, often proving lethal, as the AIDS epidemic was spreading throughout his patient population and leaving its victims susceptible to infections which the healthy American would ordinarily be able to fight off.
Kean served as a physician primarily from the 1930s to the early 1980s, prior to my birth and a period of time which, with the exception of World War II, was covered at a bare minimum in my school history classes. Therefore, many of the historical events in which he played a role were foreign to me. In particular, I only knew the vaguest details about the Iran hostage crisis, so Kean's explanation of his role in treating the deposed Shah of Iran and how it led to the crisis was news to me. I would be interested in reading another perspective, as Kean was very pro-Shah, and I suspect that the sentiments of the time were largely anti-Shah, even before the new leaders of Iran took Americans hostage.
In addition to treating the Shah of Iran, Kean found his greatest fame in being a tropical medicine doctor, with special attention to parasites, in particular those that affected the GI tract. I took a class on parasites in college as an elective in my major, so I was already familiar with those Kean described, but our class dealt primarily with them in the veterinary sense as opposed to the effects they had on humans, so it was interesting to hear how he treated his patients, especially in the sense that he didn't have many of the treatments or diagnostic tools at his avail that we do today. His concluding chapter, in which he revisited some of the afflictions he mentioned earlier in the book, was fascinating, as these were illnesses he had only seen sporadically or during his time as a doctor in Panama in the 1930s that were now seen commonly in America, often proving lethal, as the AIDS epidemic was spreading throughout his patient population and leaving its victims susceptible to infections which the healthy American would ordinarily be able to fight off.
April 30, 2020
I just finished rereading this book almost 30 years after the first reading. I am struck by the historical record of what medicine was like in the 1930's. His description of a residency done in Panama in the age before antibiotics is a residency that probably doesn't resemble medical school today. The information gained from mandatory autopsies is irreplaceable and not available to today's physicians. His rather flamboyant descriptions of his Park Avenue practice also doesn't resemble medicine in today's world.
I started my medical technology career in microbiology at a teaching hospital in 1974. I never heard of a tropical medicine specialist or coprology. A large international city like New York could support these sidelines. I would imagine he was a fascinating teacher and quite the lecturer. I had to learn about all of the parasites he mentions in the book. However, he makes them very understandable with his descriptions of their life cycles, which we had to memorize.
If you like real life medical stories this one is definitely a book you will want to add to your reading list.
I started my medical technology career in microbiology at a teaching hospital in 1974. I never heard of a tropical medicine specialist or coprology. A large international city like New York could support these sidelines. I would imagine he was a fascinating teacher and quite the lecturer. I had to learn about all of the parasites he mentions in the book. However, he makes them very understandable with his descriptions of their life cycles, which we had to memorize.
If you like real life medical stories this one is definitely a book you will want to add to your reading list.
January 8, 2012
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.
February 28, 2016
Literally could NOT put this one down, staying up late to read, delaying (almost too long) even making trips to the little girl's room..having read multiple medical books over the years (from all genres) I have not enjoyed any as much as this one. "M.D" will forever top my list and will certainly be a hard act to follow or top. The sheer body of work is amazing and includes discovery, research, treating, curing, teaching, having to psychoanalyze patients to ascertain if the problem is truly physical, the GIRTH of the work done by this one man is tremendous. Not sure they make doctors like they used to, certainly not like this one.
August 5, 2007
Going on an adventure with Dr. Bean in an extraordinary medical career that spanned over 3 continents: North America, Latin America and Europe. Lots of unusual events are recorded in this book: the discovery of disease like AIDS, Traveler's Diarrhea...
Being a doctor specialized in epidemic diseases, his work is like a detective story.
A great and entertaining read!
Being a doctor specialized in epidemic diseases, his work is like a detective story.
A great and entertaining read!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews