In 2005, I was arrested by agents from both the US Postal Service and the Food and Drug Administration for the importation of illegal human growth hormone and botulinum toxin (Botox) from China. At the time of my arrest, I was a thirty-seven year old Harvard graduate with medical and post-doctoral degrees. I attended one of the finest residency and fellowship training programs in the world at the University of California, San Francisco. I played two sports in college, earned awards at every level of education and training, had wonderful friends and a beautiful three-year-old daughter. Having grown up the son of a restaurant manager and a housewife, I had transcended the humble beginnings of a small Midwestern town to become the quintessential American Dream.Or so I thought. But with my arrest on felony importation charges, everything I had worked so hard for was swept away and the entire trajectory of my life was indelibly altered. I would embark on a three year battle not only for my medical license, but also for my freedom. This journey would lead to intense personal introspection, and in that process, I would discover with ugliness, there was also beauty, and with punishment, mercy. There are many reasons I have written this manuscript, with one of the most important being that I hoped my story would resonate with others who have gone through difficult circumstances as a consequence of a dark side of their personality. With this book, I hope to inspire others to accept and embrace the good and bad, while continually striving for improved self-understanding and acceptance.I have changed names primarily for legal purposes, but the facts are unchanged. Although the events described in the book occurred more than ten years ago, I think about them nearly every day. The shame and humiliation are ever-present. Any simple Google search of my name reveals the truth, and that truth has affected me over and over, despite the years, as it probably should. As the judge told me that day in a federal courtroom, "You have betrayed the public's trust." This is my confessional.

Covers issues from unnecessary surgeries and prescribed drugs to preventive medicine and home births.

Unnecessary death rarely happens at the hands of doctors, but it does happen. Sometimes the cause is medical error. But sometimes the cause is politics. The issues underlying many medical catastrophes are numerous: a power struggle between providers, uncertainty over who’s in charge, hesitation to practice good medicine for fear of being fired, specialization run amok, part-time doctoring. Doctors often prefer to ignore the problems, but patient safety demands that they be aired. And so does the future of the medical profession. Beneath the politics lies confusion: Doctors no longer know who they are. They don’t know how much authority they should wield. They don’t know what distinguishes them from other healthcare professionals. They don’t what about being a doctor should make them proud. When doctors lack a firm sense of who they are, the whole of medicine lacks an essential core, giving rise to personal and professional politics—and catastrophes. Patients may be relying on a system that has veered off course. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients in the operating room and interactions with colleagues, Ronald W. Dworkin traces his path from medical school to anesthesiology residency to his early years in private practice, with the experiences of his father and grandfather, also doctors, hovering overhead, in his quest to answer the question: What is a Doctor? Sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes poignant, the story of what it means to be a doctor in today’s medical setting comes to life, as Dworkin outlines the contours, the challenges and rewards, of modern medicine, and how it must be rescued in order to preserve the profession and protect patients from disasters.

This book probes the ethical structure of contemporary medicine in an argument accessible to lay readers, healthcare professionals, and ethicists alike.

Why is a Methodist minister doing stand up comedy while leading his slightly inebriated patrons in prayer? Is it possible to have more than five successful careers in your lifetime? Yes you can, if you are Reverend Dr. James H. Salmon, M.D., FACS, CPA. Dr. Salmon tells all in his memoirs. Now retired from his many lifetime endeavors, the author has written an irreverent, fascinating, and truly humorous book that entertains, educates, and delights through little triumphs and big tragedies.

You are about enter the wild and wonderful world of one of San Antonio's most respected and beloved board-certified plastic surgeons. He takes you behind the scenes of his successful practice and tells all, especially the "stuff" nobody tells medical school residents when they decide to go into plastic surgery! Get ready for your jaw to drop as you follow Dr. Jeneby... - from the sanctuary of his on-site OR doing a pre-dawn breast augmentation with his signature adjustable implants; (Ladies, you'll thank him when you get to go as big as you want--gradually, because you're gonna be sore enough after your surgery!) - to his fast-paced consults where he sizes up a potential patient's mental health because he's not just going to give you want you want until he knows you know what you're getting yourself into; (Guys, you may think you want a penis enlargement, but maybe you really just need a little affirmation) -through the moment-by-moment maze of managing his women-only staff...and so much more! You'll learn how he's dedicated to giving to charity and prefers to use the gift of his hands to restore victims of domestic violence back to themselves. You'll also hear from some of his raving fans, whose lives have been transformed because of Dr. Jeneby. Get ready to have your world rocked!

Not only for students and doctors, this volume contains Williams's thirteen doctor stories, several of his most famous poems on medical matters, and The Practice from The Autobiography.

Curious about the world of obstetrics and gynecology? Want to know why a future doctor would want to specialize in gynecology? Or perhaps you'd just like a peek behind the curtain, so to speak -- and to hear some OBGYN secrets. If you're intrigued by any of these topics, or just want to know about women's health from an OBGYN who tells it like it is, this book is for you. "Confessions of a Male Gynecologist" reveals not only what your gynecologist is thinking when your feet are in the stirrups, but provides women with some frank advice. Dr. Bellanger provides readers with an education, gets on his high horse, and shares some unbelievable (and in many cases), "laugh-out-loud" stories. Here's what readers have to say ... "... full of insights you had no idea you wanted to know." "... informational, educational, and at times downright hysterical" "... answers all the questions you've ever had about your gynecologist" "... an entertaining experience." "... an insightful look into the complexity and realities of not only women's health, but the state of our health care system today."

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S TOP TEN NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK SELECTION • A BOOKLIST EDITORS' CHOICE BOOK SELECTION One doctor's passionate and profound memoir of his experience grappling with race, bias, and the unique health problems of black Americans When Damon Tweedy begins medical school,he envisions a bright future where his segregated, working-class background will become largely irrelevant. Instead, he finds that he has joined a new world where race is front and center. The recipient of a scholarship designed to increase black student enrollment, Tweedy soon meets a professor who bluntly questions whether he belongs in medical school, a moment that crystallizes the challenges he will face throughout his career. Making matters worse, in lecture after lecture the common refrain for numerous diseases resounds, "More common in blacks than in whites." Black Man in a White Coat examines the complex ways in which both black doctors and patients must navigate the difficult and often contradictory terrain of race and medicine. As Tweedy transforms from student to practicing physician, he discovers how often race influences his encounters with patients. Through their stories, he illustrates the complex social, cultural, and economic factors at the root of many health problems in the black community. These issues take on greater meaning when Tweedy is himself diagnosed with a chronic disease far more common among black people. In this powerful, moving, and deeply empathic book, Tweedy explores the challenges confronting black doctors, and the disproportionate health burdens faced by black patients, ultimately seeking a way forward to better treatment and more compassionate care.