Chapters (70)
- COVER PAGE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- DEDICATION
- PROLOGUE
- PART I BIRTH
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- PART II LIFE
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- PART III DEATH
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the words of a good friend of mine, being a junior doctor is a tough gig. No one is denying the need to have highly skilled medics caring for the sick, nor that we need rigorous standards to adhere to. No doctor I know would argue with that, nor do we want to. You know on your first day of medical school you aren’t signing up for an easy time, and we all accept the nature of the beast in that regard. However, there is a difference between a hard job, and a job that is made much harder by bullies, petty bureaucracies, colleges who refuse to open training positions, and an ingrained culture of abuse and brutality.
To quote the article I wrote after that long shift in the emergency department over two years ago: ‘The only people dying inside a teaching hospital should be the sick patients for which doctors can find no answers.’ I, like my friends and colleagues, have worked very hard to be part of an ancient profession whose oath is Do No Harm. Now is the time to stop harming ourselves, and each other.
Dr Sonia Henry
22 February 2019
Sydney, Australia
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
acknowledgements
Thanks to:
My agent Sarah McKenzie. Without you none of this would have happened.
My publisher Jane Palfreyman, a legend, and an exceptional lunch companion.
My editors:
Haylee Nash (pre contract). And to Jo Butler for the introduction.
Ali Lavau and Christa Munns.
Greg Sioris, and the invaluable advice ever since the snorkel dropped.
The doctors who have offered particular kindness to me, encouraged creativity, or assisted with clinical details in the manuscript:
Dr Damien Boyd, Dr John Rooney, Dr Tom Pennington, Dr Jaci Hang, Dr Farnoush Noushi, Dr Sandy Beveridge, Dr Kirsty Hamilton and Dr Gareth Crouch.
Paul Blake for the ongoing advice.
Sally—for the title!
Dieter and Franz, for believing in me, and Cokes for the pen.
Peter, Sophie and Adrian Henry, for the love, and the literature.
Finally, my little house on the hill, and my brilliant friends, without whom I wouldn’t have survived those years, nor been able to write this book.
J(esso) R, NF, LW, RH, RH, DR, DJ, JL and ND.
If only the neighbours could see us now.