"Dear Doctor encapsulates the relationship every patient wishes to have with his or her physician--one where patients are seen, heard, believed, and respected. Where the multiple layers that make up our identity--our faith life, nutritional and dietary needs, fears, and unique health challenges--are acknowledged and considered. For it is in a physician's ability to understand the patient as a whole rather than as solely symptoms or a health condition that needs to be treated, that true relationship and healing can occur."
—Marisa Zeppieri, founder of LupusChick and author of Chronically Fabulous
"Each of us in our maladies, ailments, sicknesses, and diseases is unique. Anyone sitting in a medical exam room can concur, we are more than the body. Communication between the clinician and the patient is crucial on every level. Dear Doctor is a must-read for both."
—Lawrence Spann, PhD, PA-C, physician assistant at Sansum Clinic, Santa Barbara, and founder of the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Program (LAMP) in Sacramento
"Dear Doctoris a love letter to the common humanity that unites patient and physician. McEntyre teaches us that every patient is not only a lesson for the doctor, but also an intriguing human being whose life enriches the doctor's experience and improves care. By reinforcing the virtues of curiosity, respect, and listening, McEntyre leads the reader, whether student, doctor, or all the rest of us, to a deep understanding of the human connection at the heart of the clinical encounter."
—Audrey Shafer, MD, author of The Mailbox
"Marilyn McEntyre's work in medical humanities helps me be a better doctor and teacher. In this book, ostensibly addressed to physicians but rich in wisdom for anyone who has a body, she inspires me to become a better patient.Dear Doctorserves as a balm for the soul and a guidebook to those fraught conversations peculiar to the 'medical encounter.'"
—Brian Volck, MD, author of Attending Others: A Doctor's Education in Bodies and Words
"Not since Anatole Broyard's Intoxicated by My Illness has there been a clearer, more eloquent and sensitive description of the qualities of the ideal professional caregiver. Although directed at physicians, Dear Doctor should be on the required reading list for all caregivers, from nurses to aides to dentists to physical therapists. One can only hope those who read this book will reflect on not only who they'd want for their ideal caregiver but, more importantly, if they measure up to this ideal."
—Richard M. Ratzan, MD, editor of Imagining Vesalius
"Marilyn McEntyre's Dear Doctoris thoroughly informed, deeply considered, and, above all, honorably invitational to physicians seeking to re-center healing in Western medicine. With great agility, McEntyre gathers and transforms the numerous facets of doctor-patient encounters into compelling overtures, inspiring nothing short of an artisanal practice of medicine."
—Colleen "Coke" Tani, MSW, MFA, interdisciplinary artist, leader of InterPlay and of Life Practice Program
"In a voice of memorable clarity and grace, Marilyn McEntyre speaks what many patients want but have not articulated to their doctors: not simply the abstractions of respect and dignity, but practices based on the belief that both parties have something meaningful, useful, even beautiful to learn from each other. Stunningly poetic in its own right, with a brilliant chapter on pain, Dear Doctor offers a delightful, useful, memorable reading experience. It is a wonderful resource for doctors and patients alike."
—Martha Stoddard Holmes, PhD, co-editor, A Cultural History of Disability in the Long Nineteenth Century
