eShop USA > Books > The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness
The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.95Our Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%)Prices subject to change.
Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Anatomy of Hope by Jerome Groopman
Whorthwhile , a quick easy read , no suprises , several insights .
Recommended to those with chronic illness , disability and their family members .
Rating:  - The wisdom of hope
In July 1975 Jerome Groopman entered his fourth and final year of medical school at Columbia and joined the surgical team headed by Dr. William Foster. The first patient he encountered was an Orthodox Jewish woman who had lost over one- hundred members of her family in the Holocaust. She was suffering from a very advanced case of breast- cancer. In speaking with her Groopman learned that she had been ill for a long time, had felt pain for a long time but had reported it to no one. She was reluctant to tell him why, but at some point in the course of the treatment she let him know the answer. She felt herself to be a sinner because of untoward thoughts towards her employer. She felt that her illness was a punishment and therefore deserving. Despite her having three children and a husband she was living in total hopelessness. She resisted treatment and in a relatively short time , died.
This incident raised in Groopman's mind the whole question of patients' attitudes, and what part they have in the physician's treatment. He began to sense that this was a neglected area of study and that physicians were not properly trained in fully understanding their patients.
In another case- history later on Groopman working as an assistant for a dedicated physician saw that his employer's technique was to conceal from terminal patients the bitter truth- in order to let them enjoy as best they could the remaining time left. However in one instance concerning a mother and daughter in which the mother was terminally ill, the concealing of the information turned out to be insulting and humiliating to the daughter. Groopman understood from this incident that coddling patients with false hope was also a mistaken way.
In still another incident Groopman saw a doctor- friend of his who all the physicians on the case advised to no longer take radiation treatments as his situation was completely hopeless. The patient insisted on continuing with the treatment and had a remarkable recovery , a 'cure' in which the cancer completely left his system.
In still another case- history Groopman speaks about a courageous patient who without fear rationally evaluated her situation at every stage, was totally realistic in her evaluations, had hope for her recovery and also because of her religious faith, hope for the world- to- come.
In another important instance Groopman talks about his own twenty - year struggle with pain and how he was cured not by a medical treatment but by the wise recommendation of a physician who taught him to move in spite of and against the pain.
All these cases taken together make for complicated understanding of the relation of 'hope ' to 'recovery'- and are valuable not so much because of pointing to some simplistic conclusion and moral but because they show not only the complexity , difficulty, of treating and contending with serious illness but also how central human attitude and wisdom is in facing life's most difficult tests.
Rating: - A must for any professional in the field of oncology
An excellent account of an oncologist's own experience,during his multiple years of training and practice, with a description of actual cases and how the different outcomes of these cases changed the author's approach and understanding of patients with serious and terminal illnesses -mostly cancer-.
This book is the product of the author's emotional journey through understanding how differently patients react to their own diagnoses and circumstances, and why physicians have to treat patients individually, and not as cases of this type or another type of cancer.
It is clear from the stories, that he realized that many patients do not want to hear about statistics, they don't want to know their possibility of survival in 5 years or 10 years in percentages, because all human beings hold on fast to hope, and this is what makes them survive in some incredible cases.
As a physician myself, I recommend this book to all medical students, all students of oncology, and professonals in the field. Please, don't forget that the last thing that a patient loses is hope, and in a background of truthfullness, try to help them hold onto this last resource, which may benefit their immune systems in the struggle against the disease.
Rating: - Fascinating, Humbling, Inspiring, Educational
The Anatomy of Hope is an excellent book that will shock, humble and inspire you. So many books in this genre are thinly-veiled attempts by the authors to push forward their particular view of life (or perhaps more accurately, their view on how life should be led), and quickly become preacher-like and boring. This is not one of those books. It is filled with grim realities, interesting academic observations, tie-ins to what has become the author's take on life and how those facing serious health issue might cope (again, without lecturing), and, in some cases, NOT cope. If nothing else, reading this book will open your eyes to the unbelievable crises a lot of people on this planet face every day, and if you are not one of them, will (should) make you feel very humble and very grateful. On the practical side, the book is inexpensive and a very easy, quick read. Buy it. Although some of the talking heads who do reviews for a living have managed to find areas of the book to criticize (SURPRISE!), you are not going to regret dedicating a few hours of your life to this really incredible narrative. The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness
Rating:  - Enjoyable
I like the way Dr. Groopman writes and have always enjoyed his pieces in the New Yorker. This book was no different.
Featured Listmania!
| |
 |
![Nero 8 Ultra Edition [OLD VERSION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rEJoZQjmL._SL75_.jpg
)
