Fascinomas Fascinating Medical Mysteries

The author shares some of the most memorable, bizarre, interesting, but all true, stories from his medical career.

This is the first book to offer a critical analysis of one variant of the mystery story or novel—the use of a physician as the major detective. There is little difference between a medical “case study” and a mystery story. The book reviews the works of major authors, from R. Austin Freeman, Helen McCloy, Josephine Bell, and H.C. Bailey, to Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Aaron Elkins, and Colin Cotterill, with briefer reviews of minor authors. It also addresses historical (fictional) physician detectives, psychological detectives, and physician detective nonfiction. Physicians and health workers are avid readers of detective fiction and will welcome this volume, which addresses their specific interests. Its critical analysis of books that have long been viewed as central to detective fiction will also appeal to fans of the mystery story.

A woman lies dying in ICU and no one know what is killing her. A young man complains of memory loss so severe that he can't remember the events of the last hour. What does a doctor do when the patient profile says one thing and the tests say another? Making a diagnosis is a doctor's most challenging and crucial task. Most of the time, a physical examination and routine tests provide what's needed to begin a course of treatment. But sometimes the symptoms are deceptive, tests are misleading, and obvious treatment options prove woefully inadequate. In Every Patient Tells a Story Dr Lisa Sanders combines the drama of TV show House with the living, breathing world of real hospitals and real patients. She shares examples of doctors facing complex medical mysteries to create an endlessly fascinating medical detective story and illustrate the science - and art - of diagnosis. 'Not 'whodunit' so much as 'whatdunit', Lisa Sanders' book brilliantly conveys the sleuthing that lies at the heart of medical diagnosis. But this is more than a set of suspenseful tales unfolded by a skilled storyteller. Enlightening for patients, essential for practitioners, this book should be read by every doctor. I'm praying that mine will.' GERALDINE BROOKS

Medical Mysteries takes you to the front lines of the medical fringe, where absolutely anything is possible.From the files of the hit ABC primetime show Medical Mysteries comes this impossible-to-put-down collection of the strangest medical stories you are ever likely to hear.

Drawing from an ongoing series of conferences designed to teach clinical problem-solving skills, Mackowiack (U. of Maryland School of Medicine), offers case histories of the health problems of a dozen long-dead famous figures diagnosed from modern medical perspectives. Illustrations depict patients including the odd-looking Pharaoh Akhenaten, C

Modern technology has given rise to electronic medical records, remote monitoring systems, and satellite-enabled real-time examinations in which patient and physician might be separated by thousands of miles. Yet, when it comes to diagnosing difficult cases, the clinician's strongest asset might just be one of the oldest tools of the medical profession-careful listening. True Medical Detective Stories is a fascinating compendium of nineteen true-life medical cases, each solved by clinical deduction and facilitated by careful listening. These accounts present puzzling low-tech cases-most of them serious, some humorous-that were solved either at the bedside or by epidemiological studies. Dr. Clifton Meador's book is a wonderful contribution to the genre of medical detective stories mastered by the legendary Berton Roueché. As a staff writer at The New Yorker from 1944 until his death fifty years later, Roueché popularized this form, which has provided source material for feature films and most recently supplied scenarios featured in medical television dramas, such as House. While Hollywood frequently oversimplifies and elides the real clinical situations, True Medical Detective Stories sets the record straight with a voice of authority and an engaging style rooted in the fact that most of the cases presented involve Dr. Meador's actual patients. Dr. Meador discovered Berton Roueché's writing as a teenager, when he first read Eleven Blue Men. In an astonishing twist of fate, Roueché, in later years, traveled to Nashville to meet with Dr. Meador and discuss one of his cases, with Roueché's account published posthumously under the title, The Man Who Grew Two Breasts. In a fitting tribute to Roueché, this perplexing case is revisited by Dr. Meador in the opening chapter of this highly enjoyable book. True Medical Detective Stories is a captivating read that will keep you marveling over the idiosyncrasies of the human body and the ingenuity of the human mind.

This book takes you to the front lines of the medical fringe, where absolutely anything is possible. From the files of the hit ABC prime-time show ¿Medical Mysteries¿ comes this impossible-to-put-down collection of the strangest medical stories you are ever likely to hear. Learn about the man who seems to be turning into a tree; the woman who¿s seasick -- on land; the little girl who was born with all her organs reversed; and the musician who can hear everything inside his body -- even his eyeballs moving back and forth in their sockets. Put yourself in the examination room as doctors uncover and try to cure the most bizarre of medical conditions. Illustrations

A healthy young man suddenly loses his memory, making him unable to remember the events of each passing hour. Two patients diagnosed with Lyme disease improve after antibiotic treatment only to have their symptoms mysteriously return. A young woman lies dying in intensive care bleeding, jaundiced, incoherent and none of her doctors know what is killing her. Dr Lisa Sanders, whose hugely popular New York Times column inspired the hit TV show House, M.D., takes us to patients bedsides to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a first-hand account of the expertise and intuition that lead doctors to make the right decisions. An endlessly fascinating medical detective story, Diagnosis opens up as never before the finer workings of the human body, and celebrates the dedicated physicians who we may all someday need to trust with our lives.