A new book by a Washington University medical school graduate looks fascinating.

I’ve been reading through the beginning and a few different sections, so I haven’t read it all, but so far it’s a fascinating memoir. There is actually very little about W.U. (or the fact that he wrote briefly for the Post-Dispatch), but Sandeep Jauhar’s “Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation” seems honest and thoughtful and well-written. 

Most of it centers around his New York residency, particularly the first year, when he’s an intern. He seems very honest - and I won’t say ‘brutally honest’ because he’s such a good writer that his comments don’t seem snarky.

On one page he quotes from a diary entry that starts: “Do doctors care? I don’t know. I don’t see a lot of caring. Maybe I myself don’t care, or care selectively, which is hypocrisy, which I despise. No, I don’t see much attention to the psychosocial aspects of medicine. There is lip service, but by and large, no one seems to pay it much mind. Like this morning. Steve had no interest in holding Camille’s mother’s hand, in asking her why she was crying. It was pretty obvious why, but I think she would have appreciated it, if only as a gesture to recognize her pain. I myself didn’t make an effort, not because I was uncomfortable but because there was so much to do. I thought it best to spend my time doing what needed to be done…..”

Presumably he sorts through his conflicting feelings because he’s identified as a cardiologist on Long Island.

Anyway, Jauhar seems to describe what many of us on the other end of the stethoscope witness - and fear. That these self-assured docs are often unsure or are giving us short-shrift.

Anyway, has any one read this one or any other good new  memoirs lately?