The story that has stayed with me for over 50 years . |
CANONGATE BOOKS |
Dr Sassall says at one point : “ Whenever I am reminded of death — and it happens every day — I think of my own , and this makes me try to work harder .” |
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All of us back then learnt to |
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observe death as medical students |
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and young doctors . |
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But it was not an expected part |
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of our course . Perhaps we were |
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seduced by medicine ’ s wonders . |
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What we were never prepared for at |
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all were the numbers of our class- |
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Dr Malcolm Fisher Retired intensive care specialist . |
mates who would take their own lives . |
THERE are many books that have influenced my life , starting with The Famous Five series and then the |
PICTURE CREDIT |
There were four men and one woman .
We were only exposed to an inkling of their reasoning ; their deaths lay in the margins , unspoken .
As young doctors , there were
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New English Bible . |
other books , of course . The one that |
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But during my time at medical |
everyone seemed to have read was |
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school , back in the England of the |
The House of God by Samuel Shem , |
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late 1960s , the one that was read by |
published in 1978 . It was a book we |
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most of my classmates was A Fortu- |
found funny . |
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nate Man . |
Today , when I discuss it with |
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Written by the Marxist critic John |
those who grew up with it , much |
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Berger , it is a meditation on the life |
of the humour has evaporated , not |
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of a GP named Dr John Sassall . |
least because of its derogatory atti- |
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The book attempts to address two |
tude towards women . |
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questions : what is the value of medi- |
It is important to note that my |
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cine to society , and what is the value |
female colleagues back in my medi- |
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of a doctor ? |
cal student days were all reading The |
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We asked those questions our- |
Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer . |
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selves many times . |
But A Fortunate Man made a deep |
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I still have a copy of the book . |
impression on me that I have never |
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The pictures of Dr Sassall with his |
escaped . |
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patients in the rural community |
Dr Sassall was consumed by a |
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where he practised are remarkable . A |
vision of medicine that is no longer |
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form of high art . |
fashionable , one where he bore wit- |
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At the time when Berger was |
ness to the value of all human lives , |
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writing the book , Dr Sassall — a |
but one where he was also over- |
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pseudonym by the way ; his real name was Dr John Eskell — was living in the Forest of Dean , where the |
Dr John Sassall with a patient in A Fortunate Man . Photo by Jean Mohr . |
whelmed by the suffering of his own patients and his own sense of inadequacy . |
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upper class were the gentry and the |
I encourage people to read it . |
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lower class were the foresters . |
that , in the context of a modern soci- |
question can be answered , it cannot |
of selling cures — either directly to |
At the end of the book , you learn |
His relationship with the for- |
ety largely blind to the true worth of |
be answered by more words but only |
the patient or through the agency of |
a secret about Dr Sassall that I am |
esters was such that they came to |
human life , the value of medicine in |
by action , by the creation of a more |
a state service — is “ unassessable ”. |
not going to share with you . It would |
believe he was the only person from |
alleviating suffering or prolonging its |
humane society . |
Berger ’ s meaning was obscure |
spoil an excellent read , as well as the |
the gentry with whom they could use the f-word .
In our classes at medical school , this bad language was an interesting starting point for us in understanding patients because we did not see it
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He was overwhelmed by the suffering of his own patients and his own sense of inadequacy . |
to us .
He also contends that the life of Dr Sassall — who you discover is a troubled , hyper-conscientious and eccentric man — contains a great affirmative vision of importance to
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photos .
If this news story has raised issues for you , call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or contact your local doctors ’ health advisory service .
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as appropriate behaviour . |
all doctors despite the tragedies and |
As for Berger ’ s reply to the questions he poses , first , he suggests |
existence becomes obscured .
However , he stresses that , if the
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He also says the moral value of a doctor who has surpassed the stage |
the shadow of death that fall around us . |
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