Now Read This: “The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly” by Matt McCarthy

Betty Martin was the director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library; she is recently retired.

Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian

On the day this review is published, I will have been retired a whole week and a new director, Katie Hill, will be starting her first day on the job as director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Adult services coordinator Stephanie Weidenbenner agreed to take over writing the book reviews for TBY, so you’ll still be reading about some of the great books we have in the library collection. I assume different staff will be reviewing a wider variety of titles — you know, something besides historical fiction and fiction with quirky characters.

For my final review, I’m recommending a nonfiction book called “The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly,” by Matt McCarthy. The subtitle for the book is “How physicians are made in one terrifying, inspiring year.”

This is a memoir by medical student Matt McCarthy that covers his intern year at Columbia Hospital in New York. In the memoir, he has finished years of book knowledge at Harvard Medical School, and now it is time for the practical application. In his rotations, his mentors were interns only the year before and when not working on actual patients, they go through countless scenarios with Matt.

It’s like drinking from a fire hose. His life that year consists of working and sleeping. His first month’s rotation is in the Cardiac Care unit where he meets Benny, who has been in the unit for seven months waiting for a new heart. Mistakes that may cost lives haunt Matt.

In his epilogue, Matt says, “As the year wore on, I developed the ability to think outside the diagnosis, beyond the science of medicine to the art of medicine.” As the book jacket says, this is a “scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made,” and it has forever changed how I think about doctors.

This book was recommended to me by another staff member who found it while browsing in the biography section. Rather than recommend other specific read-alikes, I’m going to recommend you go and browse the biography shelves, as well. Books on that shelf are arranged by the last name of the person they are about.

I thought this book would be fitting for a last review. Not because I have saved anyone’s life, but because I hope I have added to Cape Girardeau citizens’ quality of life by working to provide a public library that benefits everyone.

I’m not moving out of Cape Girardeau for a few years, so if you see me out and about, let’s talk books!

Happy Readings!