The Physician Writer

I must admit that I am partial to books written by physicians (reading an exceptional one at the moment). I also remember coming across advice from a surgeon-writer Atul Gawande suggesting that all doctors should try to write.

Many of us hear stories for a living

While providing a service, we listen to misgivings

Misfortunes, predicaments of many kinds

Sometimes stories of redemption we find..

Listening to stories is an integral part

Of being a physician, stories sometimes fill my heart

Creating a maelstrom of emotions profound

Emotions that need to be processed in a manner sound

Patients trust me to bookend their stories perfectly

And I have to grapple with the tension of that responsibility..

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What better way to process feelings could there be

Than to put them in words, for someone like me?

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Maybe that is why many physicians feel compelled

To write, they accumulate an assortment of stories to tell

While writing scientific articles satisfies an intellectual urge

In writing for the lay person, the heart and the mind converge

The rainbow of human experience that physicians get to see

Provides for a writer a rich tapestry..

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As I read another book by a physician penned

I feel inspired, one day I intend

To write a book derived from my experiences cumulative

As a physician, I hope that’s how my legacy would live