"Refreshing and eloquent" – Libby Purves, The Times
"Quin's acute powers of observation vividly convey the hinterland of the modern general hospital … A medical memoir for the Trainspotting generation." – The Tablet
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Surgeons cut, but physicians… what do physicians actually do? And is it true that other doctors really call them 'the magicians'?
John Quin worked for thirty-three years as a physician for the NHS in both Scotland and England, specialising in endocrinology. Days on the wards were uproariously funny one minute, infinitely tragic the next.
Starting with a stern lesson from the president of the British Society of Gastroenterologists that the younger doctor was not 'a f****** comedian', Dr Quin, Medicine Man is packed with vividly told tales of the joy and reward of getting the diagnosis right, the disaster of getting it wrong.
Darkly amusing and with a keen eye for the absurd, this sharply observed memoir is not only an acute insight into the farcical frustrations and tensions of working in a chronically underfunded system but also a timely reminder of the humanity of the NHS staff who care for us.