Literature Annotations
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Groopman, Jerome E. |
| Genre | Case Study (12 pp.) |
| Keywords | Art of Medicine, Cancer, Caregivers, Death and Dying, Doctor-Patient Relationship, Physician Experience, Suffering, Survival |
| Summary | A desperate patient visits a renowned oncologist with hope for a miraculous cure of his kidney cancer. The patient, a venture capitalist, doesn't want to die--can't face his death. He is willing to take whatever risk is necessary to survive. After a grueling course of experimental treatment and an expected period of remission, the cancer returns, leaving the patient (according to the physician-author) with an awful ending to his life--a death filled with regret. What is revealed as Groopman deliberately walks "along the milestones" of his patient's life is more than the patient's story, however. For in addition to a chronicle of the disease's effect on his patient, the physician himself, and his concerns about the proper use of his knowledge and powerful tools also are revealed. |
| Commentary | Groopman very successfully blends clinical information, personal musings and doctor-patient conversation in this case study. It is one of eight case studies of catastrophic illness in his book, The Measure of Our Days: New Beginnings at Life's End. |
| Source | The New Yorker |
| Publisher | Condé Nast |
| Edition | 35681 |
| Place Published | New York |
| Alternate Source | The Measure of Our Days: New Beginnings at Life's End |
| Alternate Publisher | Viking Penguin |
| Alternate Edition | 1997 |
| Place Published | New York |
| Miscellaneous | Dr. Groopman is the Recanati Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The story was published in published in The Measure of Our Days: New Beginnings at Life's End as Kirk. It was the basis for much of the first episode of the television series "Gideon's Crossing," titled "The Gift," in October 2000. |
| Annotated by | Kohn, Martin |
| Date of Entry | 10/30/97 |
| Last Revised | 10/04/05 |