Differential Diagnosis: Doctors on the Job

Leah Kaminsky

This is a book for doctors and patients – that is, the lot of us – to relish.’ – Thomas Keneally

It is through writing that many doctors have plumbed the depths and richness of their experiences and, in turn, used this to explore their patients’ inner lives. Differential Diagnosis is a unique collection of fiction and non-fiction by doctor–writers that gives us a fascinating look behind the doctor’s mask, and gets inside the minds of those who deal with enormous existential issues and traumatic situations on a daily basis. These stories canvass emotional experiences acutely felt by doctors: an awareness of our mortality, of how humanity interplays with medicine, of the weight of responsibility carried by the profession. They bring into sharp focus, in many cases, the point of view of the patient, illuminating the experience of grief, trauma, illness, and ageing that doctors witness through their work.

Contributors: Ethan Canin, Nick Earls, Atul Gawande, Peter Goldsworthy, Jacinta Halloran, Sandeep Jauhar, Leah Kaminsky, Perri Klass, Robert Jay Lifton, John Murray, Danielle Ofri, Oliver Sacks, Abraham Verghese, Gabriel Weston, Irvin Yalom