Iona Heath relates the importance that John Berger's work and friendship had on her working life as a GP. It includes extracts from letters that span 20 years of her correspondence with John Berger. In this book, Iona Heath writes about reading John Berger's writing over more than 50 years and her friendship and correspondence with him over the best part of 20 years. Dr Heath found that both of these interacted profoundly with her work as a general practitioner in a depriv...

In this extraordinary book, Iona Heath draws on her experience as a general practitioner to select and comment on a collection of passages concerning death and dying, and to consider the essential nature of general practice. In Ways of Dying Heath illuminates the process for professionals and lay readers, and stimulates consideration of approaches to improved care at end of life. Her renowned work The Mystery of General Practice (which has been unavailable for some time), considers the com...

Increasing concern about clinical negligence demands the provision of more detailed patient information about the complications and risks of treatment and the agreement of patients to any intervention from a simple physical examination to the most complex surgical procedure. This concise practical guide provides doctors and nurses with the appropriate information needed to ensure that the patients have the knowledge to give informed consent. It identifies ways in which accusations of negli...

This collection that was first published in 2009, and is recommended reading for doctors and others includes: The Green Bookshop opens its doors; Books that won prizes; Great books that should have won prizes; Two books by one writer; A handful of classic novels; Short stories and essays; Books and the cinema; Biography and memoirs; Classic books about general practice; Best new books about general practice; Consultation and communication; Education for primary care; Psychiatry, psychology...

This third volume in the Companion to Medical Humanities series considers the concept of treatment as an active process which produces an outcome, be it effective, inappropriate or inadequate. It invites the reader to examine the relevance of the patients' belief in any given treatment and their confidence in the practitioner. Against a person-cent

The phrase 'medical humanities' has a currency that is wider than any agreement as to what it means, though those engaged in the field usually know what they are attempting. This volume examines the idea of 'symptom' as a route to understanding the structure of clinical practice. Actual symptoms are always experienced by real, actual individuals - however much those experiences are mediated by language, culture, expectation and the conventions of the clinical consultation. And this in turn...

Containing papers carefully compiled for both their historical importance and contemporary relevance, Family Medicine: The Classic Papers brings together a team of experts, led by global family medicine leaders Michael Kidd, Iona Heath and Amanda Howe, who explain the importance of each selected paper and how it contributes to international health care, current practice and research.The papers demonstrate the broad scope of primary health care delivered by family doctors a...

‘Doctors will love this book. It speaks to them in profoundly personal ways, and also in stimulating intellectual ways [and] full of source material to help doctors and educators shape a better world in medicine.’ – Moira Stewart, PhD, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Western University, CanadaWhat does it mean to be a good doctor? How do we learn to respond well to suffering—both our patients’ and our own—and to sustain o...