The Unexpected Patient: True Kiwi stories of life, death and unforgettable clinical cases

by Himali McInnes

Stories of life, death and unforgettable clinical cases
A psychiatrist and a patient with supernatural connections.

A family man's resilience as he recovers from a life-changing terrorist attack.

A rural nurse specialist and his incredible roadside rescue of a woman on the brink of cardiac death.

A trauma therapist caught in the aftermath of a violent methamphetamine episode.

The Unexpected Patient tells the stories of patients who impacted health carers in unforgettable patients who showed stubborn perseverance on the road to recovery, who clung to hope in the face of unexpected trauma, and who illuminated the indomitable depths of the human spirit.

These stories look at the things that lead to bad health outcomes, from the seeds that are set before we are born, to the personal choices we make, and to societal and health sector shortcomings. Yet, ultimately, The Unexpected Patient is about human relationships and the bonds forged between two a medic and that one, unforgettable patient.

Genres: Nonfiction

271 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2021

Reviews

[Shey Spano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite insightful health care stories in NZ, feel like you'd need a bit of background medical knowledge to understand some terminology. Appreciation to the men and women constantly putting their lives at risk to save lives. Thank you!!

[Pip Brooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the stories but would have liked more personal detail. I found the clinical commentary and statistics interesting and shocking but at times bogged down the storyline.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love supporting local women of colour and love the medical essay format. Some of these stories hit really close to home and a reminder that there is something to learn from every patient

[Stefan Fairweather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit disappointing. I expected 14 gripping short stories focused around exceptional cases and patient/healthcare interactions but that wasn't to be, and it seemed a bit of a long bow at times that the case in question was the healthcare providers 'most memorable'. Most of each story was taken up with McInnes providing a rather dry lecture around some clinical aspect of the case. I think this would be a very hard book for a non-medical person to read - at times the author will (very reasonably) define a specialist word e.g carcinogenic (causing cancer), yet other times the reader is left to Google their way through "cholinesterase inhibitors...and immunosupressive drugs such as azithioprine".

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading these stories (I love a good medical book), but the discussion sometimes was bogged in medical jargon. I think there could have been a way statistics were woven to connect the stories as a whole - the themes of poverty and disadvantage were common threads that could have been pulled tighter. Overall a really good read.

[Lily Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most fantastic books I have read this year! I do agree an amount of health literacy is beneficial when reading it but I really enjoyed the stories and even more so the insight from the writer into different aspects that impact healthcare, particularly in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Loved it!

[Sally Hinkley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire the intention of the book but I found myself wanting to read more about the patients' stories rather than the medical descriptions and the related commentaries that followed on in each chapter.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book but it was a struggle. It's a bit unclear who the target audience is - if you're not a medic it has a lot of dense jargon about niche medical topics, and if you are a medic the stories are about quite common types of cases that most people have experienced.

[Miz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories about medical cases in the kiwi context. Interesting and digestible.

[Pam Coll · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting insight into New Zealand's health system, a must-read for NZers and potential immigrants and travellers.

[Helen Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting essay type accounts of medical patients and the nurses and doctors who treated them and remember them.

[Rebecca Whelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good book - covered a wide range of health professionals in New Zealand and the impacts their patients had on them

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful, love reading local stories.

[Olivia Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

From working in healthcare in the past, I enjoyed these stories. But not enough to recommend the book to other’s personally.

[rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful. A lot of take home messages for my own practice. Some aspects I enjoyed:

⭐️ Impacts of colonisation and poverty on health care
⭐️ Māori approach to health care was wonderfully written. Made me feel so proud of the practitioner for engaging and collaborating with Te Ao Māori. Māori are disproportionately affected by Mental Health sectioning,
Wish that was lamented more but I loved it.
🚩 In saying that, I didn’t enjoy the feeling of te iwi Māori almost being tokenised for a chapter or two because it was a unique experience to the health care professional. It’s a sacred space in which we interact with Te Ao, I don’t like pākehā medical professionals in positions of power being hailed for scrapping the top of the barrel. It ALMOST made feel a bit upset but staying on the positive, this book exists to educate others so I hope these patients were compensated for having their stories out there.
⭐️I loved the explanation of the medicine and the science. Generational trauma has a physical affect on the brain. Cancer. Keto diets. Trauma etc

[Sophia Elisabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were small pearls in this book of collected stories. However, I felt it lacked emotion and personality; it was more a record than a re-telling. As a witness of miracles and mishaps in medicine through nearly a decade of training and time in healthcare, I wasn’t surprised by the statistics or the commonality of diseases and disorders. I had hoped this book would spark hope and passion with an insight to a doctor’s raw reality following such a privileged career. Instead, I skimmed most chapters and could only take away a handful of insights. The stories and patients were predictable rather than unexpected.

Maybe the expectation was set too high? Maybe I hoped for something that was never the authors intention? Whatever the reason, I unfortunately leave this book with a sense of wanting. I would recommend works by Adam Key, David Galler or Lisa Cherrington before offering The Unexpected Patient up for the ever-growing TBR lists.

[Amanda Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different stories about patients who had an effect on their medical carers. But also looks at issues within NZ society related to those patients.

A plastic surgeon and a Whakaari/White Island volcanic eruption survivor.
A trauma therapist caught in the aftermath of a violent methamphetamine episode
A kiwi nurse who looks after the British MP with Covid.
A spinal specialist working with a victim of the Christchurch mosque attacks.