Sick girl
Friday, October 10 2008
Pauline Chen of the New York Times reviews Amy Silverstein’s memoir Sick Girl and reflects on a transplant patient who stopped taking immunosuppressants. Chen goes to Silverstein for the money quote:
“There is a taboo in our culture against a sick person, post-transplant or otherwise, being honest about how difficult it is to live with serious illness and to live on the verge of death,” Ms. Silverstein said.
I can see how this works as a stylistic device – letting the outside expert deliver the bang – but if Dr. Chen wasn’t already aware of the taboos against sick people in our society, that’s a problem. How can you call your column “Doctor and Patient” if all you know about patients is what you see as a doctor? And is a transplant surgeon really in the best position to write this sort of column? (I guess this answers some of my questions: “In her new online column, ”Doctor and Patient”… Dr. Pauline W. Chen says she hopes she can help to begin bridging the divide between physicians and their patients.” Apparently the column is fairly new.)
I’ve not read Sick Girl - in fact, I had never heard of it until now. These sorts of books tend to be forced and overwrought, but if she has a “wry, biting sense of humor”, then it might be worth checking out.
