God's Hotel: A Doctor, A Hospital, And A Pilgrimage To The Heart Of Medicine (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Reading this gave me an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for working in medicine before it became the so-called "delivery" healthcare services that are also so called "efficient" and "cost-effective" but really just a mechanized, impersonal mess of a behemoth today. As if I ever worked in that world?! But I do wish I did-- perhaps I should move to Switzerland where time, sunshine, fresh air, open spaces, community, good fresh good, restful quiet, etc etc etc are still essential components of medicine. *sigh* She provides such compelling evidence of how we've lost so much of the healing aspects of medicine, in an effort to be efficient and cost-effective, only to find that the new processes cost more anyway-- in terms of of the loss of patient-doctor and patient-nurse healing relationships and in terms of actual patient lives and of course, money. It's fascinating that her complete history physical exam that could take up to 2-3 hours would again and again yield more valuable and critical information than weeks of MRIs, x-rays, and expensive laboratory work-ups in the hospital ever did. The idea of actually listening and looking as your first and most important tool, instead of leaping to start with blood tests and imaging to tell you what is going on, is a lost and dying art. I loved reading about her research into Hildegard's medieval medicine treatises and traditions. While I definitely think technology and progress are essential to medicine, we still have so much to learn from the past. I hope we do learn from it instead of toss it aside as outdated and irrelevant. I wish I could make everyone read this book. We are moving so far away from human interactions toward mechanical, rote actions in almost every sphere of life. Humanity isn't well served by all the rules, regulations and paperwork of the current world. We spend so much time with the paperwork, the busy documentation for the attorneys, that there is no time left for "being" a patient or a Doctor. Having blood drawn yesterday my mother was required to sign two papers....one that she was having blood drawn and the other that blood had been drawn. Really? And think of the cost to track those two, very stupid, papers. I want more people like author Victoria Sweet in my life!
What do You think about God's Hotel: A Doctor, A Hospital, And A Pilgrimage To The Heart Of Medicine (2012)?
Loved this book. Truly healing approach to healing. A must read I tell my family and friends.
—impossible33
I really enjoyed Dr. Sweet's memoir and her slow medicine approach to health care.
—deepso
Wonderful book. Non-fiction. Written by a physician. Loved it!
—Hassy
very interesting but did not like the writing style much.
—twipott
