Featured Event
Medical Grand Rounds/Writers Workshop Lecture
Staying Human in Medicine: From "The House of God" to "The Spirit of the Place"
Thursday, January 27, 2011. 8:30AM to 9:30AM in the Fitkin Amphitheater, 330 Cedar St, New Haven.
When Stephen Bergman’s novel House of God was published in 1978, it caused a major uproar in academic medicine circles. The reason, according to Howard Markman, writing in the New York Times, was Bergman’s “brutally honest portrayal of the absurd tragedies and occasional triumphs of hospital life; the once-common abuse of young physicians by their superiors; and the anger and frustration these interns directed at themselves and patients.” As Bergman (a.k.a. Samuel Shem) recalled 30 years later, he took “a lot of flak” for his irreverent take on the training of young physicians at an elite Boston hospital. “Older doctors attacked it and me; students would ask me to speak, and deans would cancel me,” he said. Bergman will talk about House of God, and his other works, written during and after his three decades on the Harvard psychiatry faculty, and offer suggestions for remaining connected and caring during a life in medicine.
A reception will follow in the Fitkin lobby. For more information, please contact Patricia King at (203) 737 2078.
When Stephen Bergman’s novel House of God was published in 1978, it caused a major uproar in academic medicine circles. The reason, according to Howard Markman, writing in the New York Times, was Bergman’s “brutally honest portrayal of the absurd tragedies and occasional triumphs of hospital life; the once-common abuse of young physicians by their superiors; and the anger and frustration these interns directed at themselves and patients.” As Bergman (a.k.a. Samuel Shem) recalled 30 years later, he took “a lot of flak” for his irreverent take on the training of young physicians at an elite Boston hospital. “Older doctors attacked it and me; students would ask me to speak, and deans would cancel me,” he said. Bergman will talk about House of God, and his other works, written during and after his three decades on the Harvard psychiatry faculty, and offer suggestions for remaining connected and caring during a life in medicine.
A reception will follow in the Fitkin lobby. For more information, please contact Patricia King at (203) 737 2078.
