Doctors in the Movies: Boil the Water and Just Say Aah - Hardcover

Dans, Peter E.

3.88

8 ratings by Goodreads

9780936741147: Doctors in the Movies: Boil the Water and Just Say Aah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0936741147 ISBN 13: 9780936741147

Publisher: Medi-Ed Press, 2000

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Myth, like denial, is central to human existence and no one has made myths better than Hollywood, shaping how we think about ourselves and those around us by reinforcing stereotypes or creating new ones. This book is about how Hollywood has portrayed medicine over the last sixty years, as seen through the eyes of a board-certified internist on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The author blends brief historical context with an in-depth discussion of more than seventy films that illustrate what the public has valued in doctoring, the changing attitudes towards science, and the evolution of issues that still confront and divide us. Assisted suicide, abortion, concerns about health care costs and impersonal high-tech medicine are all in evidence. Two chapters deal with the virtual invisibility of women and Black doctors in film. The book has an extensive filmography and bibliography inviting readers to explore the subject further.

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About the Author:

For the past ten years, Peter E. Dans, M.D., a specialist in internal medicine, has written a column titled "The Physician at the Movies" for The Pharos, the quarterly journal of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society. His particular areas of medical expertise include medical ethics, health policy, quality assurance, and infectious diseases. He is "almost embarrassed to admit that the book is a product of thousands of hours of movie watching and reflecting on how the medical profession is and has been seen by those we serve. It is not a history of medicine, but rather a look at the ways movies have mirrored the changes in medical care and in society's attitudes towards doctors and medicine."

Review:

"Dans brilliantly uses movies to illuminate history and societal attitudes about medicine and doctors during six decades. This is both a wonderfully entertaining book and a valuable work of social history." -- Kenneth M. Ludmerer, M.D.

"Dr. Dans provides a useful and fascinating guide to movies about medicine, informed by a critical intelligence that's equally sophisticated on hospitals AND Hollywood. -- Michael Medved, syndicated radio host, former chief film critic of the NY Post

...I finished several chapters and I am really enjoying it. What a job of research! And I'm a movie buff. -- Gen. Colin L. Powell, Alexandria, Virginia, May 23, 2000

By Ann Hornaday, Sun film critic

Peter E. Dans, M.D., wants you to know he's only one man, who, like every man, has his point of view. So if you read his new book, "Doctors in the Movies", bear in mind that it's a highly personal take on some of the most enduring icons in American film: doctors, hospitals and the institution of medicine. "I make no pretense that this is anything but my opinions," Dans says. "But being someone who is interested in the evolution of medical care and health care in America, it seemed a nice .. hook for some of these things." Dans has written the "Physician at the Movies" column for The Pharos, a national quarterly medical journal, for 10 years and began writing the book four years ago. Dans, an internist, has always had an interest in the dynamics of medical care delivery. Today, he teaches medical ethics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has also served as a health policy fellow in the U.S. Senate and established Hopkins' office of medical practice evaluation.

-Dans has a great deal of fun in "Doctors in the Movies" in an appendix dedicated to common cliches, like the lines "Boil the water" and "Just say Aah." -- Baltimore Sun, January 2, 2000

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