The Soul of Care
The Moral Education of a Doctor
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The moving memoir of a doctor who became a family caregiver and learned why care is so central to all our lives
'Beautiful and deeply moving. A truly extraordinary work that will change how we think about our lives and the society we live in' Michael Puett, author of The Path
When Dr Arthur Kleinman, an eminent Harvard psychiatrist and social anthropologist, began caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, he found just how far the act of caregiving extended beyond the boundaries of medicine. In The Soul of Care, he delivers a deeply inspiring story about what it means to grapple with illness from both sides, as an experienced doctor and a loving husband.
Caregiving is long, hard, unglamorous work - at moments joyous, more often tedious, sometimes agonizing, but always rich in meaning. Describing the practical, emotional and moral aspects of caring, Kleinman explores how we must ask uncomfortable questions of ourselves and of our doctors. Poignant and honest, The Soul of Care is an uplifting story about what really matters in our lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Psychiatrist and medical anthropologist Kleinman sensitively weaves the story of his late wife Joan's early-onset Alzheimer's disease with frank commentary on the decay of personalized patient care in this clear-eyed memoir. As a medical student in the 1960s, Kleinman was shocked by the lack of empathy patients received ("It was as if I could see care disappearing before my eyes"). Working alongside Joan in the 1970s, Kleinman studied Chinese medicine and caregiving across cultures, and furthered his work in the then-nascent field of medical anthropology. When Joan became ill with Alzheimer's in her 50s, he became a caregiver himself and turned to his research for inspiration: "Our Chinese cultural socialization intensified our sense of the two of us as one unit equally responsible for each other." He writes tenderly of Joan's decline, during which time they experienced much of the same substandard treatment of patients that Kleinman had studied and criticized, which only intensified Kleinman's commitment to holistic care; after Joan's death in 2011, Kleinman continued his fight for a caregiving curriculum in medical schools. Kleinman's accessible discussion of patient care should appeal to a broad range of readers.
