Category: Book Review

This Is Going To Hurt is a heart-touching book written by an ex-doctor, Adam Kay. This book was almost like his personal diary, including all his thoughts and incidents that he encountered as a doctor, written to highlight the reality and the true nature of a medical career that many sitcoms and dramas masked. I personally found the book heart warming, saddening and also inspiring and would honestly recommend it to anyone planning to studying medicine. It is an excellent book and sheds much needed light on the daily existence of our healthcare staff. 

This Is Going To Hurt comprises a series of diary entries from the life of a junior doctor: Adam Kay. Kay emphasises the highs and lows he came across during his 6 years as a doctor. From the ludicrous and hilarious encounters to the heartbreaking moments, despite the depressing content of the book, it is ‘painfully funny’. This book is a much-needed, candid, unfiltered look at the life of an NHS worker. With the huge workload and stress being the norm, Kay hyperbolised the harsh journey a doctor has to endure, from being a ‘glorified receptionist’ to being the doctor in charge. The humorous tone contrasted harmoniously with the dark and serious contents of the book and this highlights how a doctor should be prepared to face hardships and how the road to becoming a doctor is not necessarily the smoothest, something totally different than what was conveyed by the entertainment industry. 

The raw and gritty truth also gave me a newly found respect for all medics as it underscores that doctors are human too. Doctors are not robots who perform miracles with a click of their fingers, but are humans who work long, fatiguing hours and search up things on the internet to help them, and certainly can not be replaced by WebMD.  With sleepless nights and weekends almost non-existent, This Is Going To Hurt allows me to witness first hand the endless dedication the doctors have to improve their patients’ lives. I, personally, was always intimidated by the perfect persona the stereotypical doctors held, and made me question whether I was capable of becoming a doctor. However, after reading this book, I became aware that a doctor’s life is a continuous journey of learning, and that even the most professional doctors are sometimes unsure. After all, all doctors are humans.

However, contrasting the humorous tone of the book, the ending of the nonfiction novel was rather depressing and sad. The comical tone dissipated entirely as Kay came onto the topic as to why he had to leave his position as a medical worker. The book emphasised how a doctor won’t be able to save every patient and that a doctor must be prepared to take responsibility if anything were to happen to his/her patient. Death is a tragedy that a doctor must be ready to face. However, don’t get me wrong. Doctors aren’t cold-blooded creatures that do not care about the deaths of their patient. Doctors merely should be aware of the fact that death is something that is inevitable in their career, something they can never forget, but have to move on from. Adam Kay mentions the death of one of his patients. This was different from before. Kay was the senior doctor and he had no one to put the blame on, no one to push the responsibility towards. Kay couldn’t handle the death, though he desperately tried to bury it in his mind, and ultimately led him to quit, ending his six year journey as a doctor. 

This book brings to the fore, the sheer operational mountain of running a hospital. Kay embraces how the miracles performed by doctors and nurses are almost dwarfed by the problems of missing a get-together planned by his friends whilst unravelling the hard and underappreciated life of a doctor. The book has its funny moments, a good mixture of laughter and long unspoken truth and stories that shouldn’t have never left the hospital ward. However, I would describe the book as more poignant than comic. The NHS system relies almost totally on the Hercules shoulders of the medical workers, like Adam Kay, whose compassion motivates miracles and makes it possible to cope with an inhuman workload. 

Having recently finished reading the book called Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Complete Guide To understand Autism, by Chantal Sicile-Kira, I was absolutely intrigued by every problem, every case and every incident mentioned throughout this novel. The novel was filled with clear, easy-to-read, practical advice and recommendations based on her personal experience with her autistic son Jeremy. I was introduced to the myriad of struggles and battles autistic individuals and their loved ones had to encounter. This book was educational and heart-touching. It made me feel obliged to open my eyes to the hardships the autistic individuals had to face.

It was a wonderful book that allowed me to look into every single aspect of Autism. An interesting book that included almost every struggle or challenge a parent with an autistic child might face. Covering almost every aspect of an autistic person’s life from their diets and incomprehensible behaviours to how an autistic adult can use his surroundings and society to help him cope with daily struggles, this book was extremely detailed. Aiming to demolish any false myths, Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Complete Guide To understand Autism also went through some rumours or myths regarding Autism Spectrum Disorder. I found this extremely helpful, as I was aware of some of the controversies behind the MMR vaccine and autism. This book clearly dismissed any of the rumours and thoroughly explained why we shouldn’t fear the MMR vaccine. It also helped me to broaden my perspective when thinking of people with autism. When thinking about autistic people, children affected by this disorder are what I usually thought of. However, this book helped to hyperbolise the fact that adults too are affected by this disorder. Autism doesn’t magically disappear when one reaches adulthood. The challenges they face are carried out into adulthood and it allows me to remind myself what I can do to help an adult with autism. It also brings emphasis to not pamper an autistic child as there will be a time when they have to do it alone. Taking this into perspective, the detail of every single challenge written in the book is very impressive and informative.

Chantal has also incorporated many snippets of experiences of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is also extremely helpful, as it gives an interesting insight as to how a person with autism actually feels. Chantal also incorporated a variety of autistic people’s opinions, which is really helpful as I got to see how different people react differently to different treatments and different surroundings. This helped me to not generalise every single information as the book clearly underscored how every single treatment, advice and medication varies from person to person. This raises an interesting point. The symptoms of autism vary tremendously from person to person, depending on where that individual lies on the spectrum. Therefore, it is crucial that the treatment that individuals get must be personalised to get the best output. If a child with a high intellectual ability goes for treatment with help in school rather than trying to improve his poor eye contact, the treatment would be less effective. Having inserts of autistic person’s perspective also helped me to understand the unique thoughts of an autistic person and know what they feel most helpful. 

However, this book is written and focused on a parent’s perspective. It focused mostly on how a parent should react to their child’s irregular actions, and how to nurture them better. So if you don’t find that helpful, this book might not be that interesting for you. Regardless of that, I still found this book informative and helpful as it did give me some knowledge as to the conventional struggles faced by parents with an autistic child. Although it wasn’t directly helpful, I still appreciated the extra knowledge this book provided me. With the book being written from a parents’ perspective, I was able to know about the different struggles that I otherwise would not have known about. This made me very engrossed into the book and found it extremely interesting. 

Another factor that makes this book extremely reliable is the fact that it was written by a mother who has an autistic child. This makes the book extremely realistic, giving the readers affordable expectations and suggestions. This ensured me that the information in the book is true and realistic. With Chantal being a mother of an autistic child, it gives her a lot of personal experience in this sector. This comforts the readers as they are reassured that this journey, although is filled with challenges, is not possible. She also gives extremely easy and affordable suggestions that everyone is able to do. I personally found this very interesting as these pieces of information help a parent facing a dead-end tremendous support. 

However, if you’re looking for the scientific aspects behind ASD, including the associated gene mutations and whatnot, this isn’t really the book for you. This book disregards the science behind this disorder, in order to focus on how to actually cope with ASD. I had initially started reading this book, interested behind the scientific knowledge related to Autism Spectrum Disorder. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to see the book focusing on how a parent should care for autistic kids rather than a de novo mutation that was associated with autism (which is partially my fault for not reading the blurb).  Despite that, the book does also have experiences with doctors and hospitals, along with denying some scientific rumours, so it does try to intertwine the reality and the real life aspects of battling autism with the medical aspects of treatment and diagnosis. So if you are aspiring to work in the medical field (like myself), this book may come in handy as it gives an insight to how one should treat and care for autistic individuals.

Overall, this book was utterly engrossing and I personally feel as if this book is an absolute necessity for parent with autistic children. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for more knowledge on the Autism Spectrum Disorder, as this book is key to understand the emotions and feelings an autistic individual may face.

I had this wonderful opportunity of going through Being Mortal by Atul Gawande and how it pierced through my heart with its real, unbridled stories. The statistics this book laid  in front of us is an eye opener. How deteriorating health poses a dilemma in the elderly people’s life and how deeply they are affected underscores the rough battle that the elderly have to endure..  Though I wanted to do a review on this book,  this book directed me into more reading  and researching. Health care for elderly is an area as of now the medical world should look into with  2.1 billion people aged 60 or above by 2050. For example,in Japan, more elderly diapers are sold than the  baby diapers . Some countries have excellent health care systems while others have yet to imply a systematic healthcare system . So,  I tried comparing some countries like the UK and India along with Switzerland. 

Being Mortal is a book written by the American surgeon Atul Gawande. This non-fictional book addresses hospice care, end-of-life care, and also contains Gawande’s reflections and personal stories. Atul Gawande strongly believes that medical care should focus on well-being rather than survival. This book was filled with interesting opinions and perspectives and gave a very readable insight into a myriad of things like that death and mortality, something many refuse to think about. However, through the book Being Mortal, Atul Gawande underscores how no matter how rapidly the healthcare industry improves, one would inevitably face death. How the human body slowly starts to deteriorate, and how the healthcare the individual face should also change, Atul Gawande hyperbolised how the perception of a ‘good life’ changes throughout life. Gawande includes a number of cases, some personal like his mother-in-law and father, whereas others are not. This makes the book interesting and heart-touching as Gawande raises awareness of the idea and the reality of mortality. 

With the book filled with heart-touching cases, I couldn’t help but tear up as I noticed the heart-wrenching struggles and emotions people face as they get older. One particular story that caught my attention was the story of Felix and Bella as they battle ‘the series of losses’  that they encounter. The physical decline the couple faces forces them to depend on each other, later resorting to the assistance of nursing homes and the others, it was clear to the readers that the elderly couple had to make adjustments, quickly and hastily, with each other being their only source of comfort and help. I was amazed at how the couple stuck by each other, during the time of Bella’s degradation. This brought my attention to how Bella struggled to find reassurance and comfort in the nursing homes and had always desperately reached out to Felix. However, what got me thinking was that, what if the elderly had no one to lean back on? Would they be forced to adjust their likings to suit the nursing home’s lifestyle? How can we improve healthcare, so that the elders can receive safety, reassurance and comfort? What can we do to make the elderly enjoy their time? How can we make sure the elders are not out of their comfort zone? 

Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal has multiple positive reviews, so I have attached a link to the New York Times review. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/atul-gawande-being-mortal-review.html

With more than one in every five being aged 60 or above, the number of elders is expected to rise from 14.9 million in 2014 to 18.5 million in 2025 in the UK alone. If we look further into the statistics regarding the elderly in the UK, 75% of 75-year-olds in the UK have more than one long term condition, and between 2008 and 2014 the numbers of A&E attendances by elders (aged 60 or over) increased by two-thirds. With these shocking statistics, it is clear that the UK has to pay utmost attention to healthcare for the elderly. UK healthcare is already one of the top, most systematic systems in the world. As it attempts to reduce the amount of time someone spends in long term ill-health in later life, the UK healthcare system underscores the importance of early identification and offering support through, for example, healthy ageing and healthy caring guides. The UK system also ensures safety outside the premises of the hospital by supporting and teaming up with other services like visits done by the fire and rescue team. The UK also promotes tailored care and personalised care planning which documents people’s preferences and supports choices about key aspects of care towards the end of life for people with advanced frailty. I feel as if the immaculate healthcare system in the UK is treating the physical well-being of the elderly with paramount importance. However, it is still deemed not enough as the charity Age UK has identified 1.4m older people in Britain with unmet social needs. What should the UK healthcare do to facilitate the elderly with healthcare to improve both their physical and mental well-being?

When looking at the healthcare system in India, the world’s second-most populous country has experienced, in the last 50 years, almost a tripling of the population over the age of 60 years. I was absolutely shocked at this, and even more so when I read that India doesn’t even have a systematic healthcare system for the elderly. According to a myriad of surveys across the country, I believe the biggest concerns for senior citizens in India are healthcare costs, lack of financial support along with isolation. While the healthcare system focuses on increasing longevity and debilitating chronic diseases, the elderly need better access to physical infrastructure, both in their own homes (even the nursing homes) and in public spaces.  While many attempts to overcome this hurdle, managing home care for the elderly is a massive challenge as multiple service providers – nursing agencies, physiotherapists and medical suppliers – are small, unorganized players who extend sub-optimal care. According to a study from the Lancet medical journal, which was conducted in 2011, 39 million Indians citizens are pushed into poverty every year due to medical costs. With the lack of insurance, individual citizens have to dig their pocket to pay the medical field. I personally find this unfair and filled with injustice. Infuriatingly, less than 4% of India’s GDP is allotted to the healthcare sector and less than 5% are covered by the government’s health insurance schemes for the elderly. India, unlike the UK and USA, does not make it mandatory for the citizens to have healthcare insurance. Taking my grandparents into consideration, who are aged at 83 and 74, who are currently living in India, emphasises the effect of the lack of a healthcare system. They have been so health conscious all their lives. However, as their age progresses, they couldn’t prevent the painful deterioration of their health. They are  now struggling to cope with the arising problems in the form of  dementia, or general weakness. There are occasions, they  grapple with the  reality that the  house they built or the income they have, do not hold any value.  What they  require is a  great support  system. And  even in the private sector, the  availability  of  healthcare is  not structured. Many elderly anticipates their offsprings to  look after them but many don’t even have that choice. My grandparents, living in India, have to battle the hardships without any proper healthcare system, as they isolate themselves. They long for company, for care, for safety that they struggle to find. This is why having a dedicated healthcare system for the elderly is absolutely necessary, as I could personally see how the elderly slowly deteriorated and became more and more dependent on others.

Switzerland, on the other hand, is noted to have the best healthcare system in the world, with over 99.5% of its citizens having healthcare insurance. When reading about the healthcare system in Switzerland, I came about the VIA Project which I found absolutely wonderful and fascinating. The VIA Project targets the elderly throughout the country with the overall goal of promoting the health of older people and to strengthen their self-determination and independence in order to maintain or improve their quality of life and overall well-being, allowing them to continue living at home for as long as possible. Quality health promotion and prevention is what this particular project aims for, which I believe is absolutely necessary. The main 6 priorities that were hyperbolised during this project was: the promotion of physical activity, prevention of falls, mental health, targeting vulnerable groups, integration of general practitioners, and finally support of events, workshops and counselling sessions.

Like how Atul Gawande mentioned, ‘It is not death that the very old tell me they fear. It is what happens short of death’.