Everyday Foibles and Extraordinary Heroism

I've just finished readng Vincent Lam's Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner. It's a remarkable first book, a series of short stories about a group of doctors, taking us through "how to get admitted to medical school," to how doctors deal with not only the tedium of everyday life but the ethical dilemmas and moments of life or death drama. I think that what makes the book so interesting is that Lam is an emergency room physician, and it's not often that we find doctors who have an avocation as creative writers. Thus, although it's a work of fiction, we can't help but think of it as an insider's glimpse into the world of medicine. The picture is not altogether a pretty one: the doctors we meet are no more and no less human than the rest of us. There are moments of altruism, of heroics, as when Chen breaks the glass to insert Fitz's IV line when both are isolated SARS patients thus saving a nurse from having to contact a SARS patient in a very risky manner. Then there are the other moments when we know the medical staff have been less than stellar in their patient care and attention because of tiredness or distraction. The stories are also about personal relationships - friendships that last and those that go sour; falling in, and out of, love; what makes people tick. I think I read that the book is being made into a TV drama. It would make a good show.