There are those generic books you find when you type into google ‘books for studying medicine,’ such as Do No Harm, Being Mortal, Trust Me I’m a Junior Doctor etc. ‘Dear Life’ is perhaps a less generic book.
1. Overview
2. Key Lessons
1. Overview
Published in early 2020, I think this new book has remained relatively under the radar since people who applied to med/ dental school. Dr Rachel Clarke is a palliative doctor which involves working with patients who are at the end of their lives. In general, it is written in a similar tone to the other ‘doctor’ books (similar to the 6 or 7 I’ve read) but I feel as if it gives deeper and more meaningful insights into topics hardly discussed in other books, most notably death. Alongside the looming theme of death, Clarke likes to bring up the theme of life.
2. Key Lessons
An interesting idea was the contradiction between 2 of the 4 pillars of medical ethics: beneficence and autonomy. ie when does a patient’s autonomy overrides a doctors’ duty to the patient to keep them alive (beneficence). Clarke brings this up in several stories with which although there is no clear cut answer, one can harvest insightful arguments for and against.
The most important insight I feel that the book provides, is an insight into human nature- how people should deal with death, both from a doctor’s perspective but also from a layman’s. Ideas such as a doctor’s detachment from death and dying patients are brought to centre stage while being compared to Clarke’s own experiences in everyday life.
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