BREAKING & MENDING

Sub-titled 'A Junior Doctor's Stories of Compassion and Burnout', Joanna Cannon entered medicine as a mature student with more life experience than many younger doctors, but this did not protect her from the rudeness, exploitation, humiliation and patronising treatment by peers and superiors, and from near burn-out. She eventually fell on her feet in psychiatry, but the message of her book is about the immense value of 'the human effect in medicine' and the whole-person model. 'Words are never, ever, just words' she writes in the context of giving a diagnosis and it is equally true that there is no spare word in her book. Frank and compassionate, her memoir tells the story in heart-rending snapshots and we walk with her through the wards, facing extraordinary and daunting moments, from attending her first post-mortem, sitting with a patient through their final moments, to learning the power of a well or badly chosen word. In a profession where weakness remains a taboo, this beautiful and moving story brings to life the human stories of doctors and patients, and shows us why we need to take better care of those who care for us. It is a powerful hymn to the NHS and to the dedication of so many of its workers. 162pp, paperback.