The book that I have read for the Illness and Dying unit is titled Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It was published in 2004 by Random House Inc.
Precis: Paul Farmer grew up in a less than ideal family situation, relocating multiple times in addition to other struggles. However, he was very gifted and intelligent, and ended up attending Harvard Medical School where he studied to be a doctor/anthropologist. Unlike typical doctors, (and people in general, actually) Farmer embarked on his image to do good by commuting from Boston to Haiti in order to treat infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, during his time in medical school at Harvard. At his hospital in Cange, Haiti, Farmer offered free health care to any Haitian who needed it... he even formed his own organization called Partners in Health, which helped out with Farmer's mission by attempting to raise money for those who could not afford treatment or medication. One of the important players in the organization named Jim Kim offered to take the organization to Peru with a friend of Farmer's named Jack, who was a priest. Although, unfortunately Father Jack loses his life to a strand of Multi- Drug Resistant TB, the programs in both Haiti and Peru did an amazing job of providing care for those who would normally not be able to recieve it. This resulted in Farmer expanding the Partners in Health organization to Russia. The work that Paul Farmer has done in the field of medicine is the opposite of what we see in the current system today, and the way he treats his patients as people is a passion that would be amazing if all doctors could share it.
Gems:
"He was like a compass, with one leg swinging around the globe, and the other planted in Haiti,” (Kidder, 260). It is amazing how someone with so much success in a much more fortunate country would abandon their selfishness in order to help the people who really needed him. The man really is portrayed as a saint in the story.
"But Farmer seemed worried about the expense, and perhaps the precedent, of a medevac flight. He'd written back, 'Serena, honey. please consider the possibilities." (Kidder, 270) This quote seems to suggest that Farmer is actually implying that the cost to help these people is too great, and that their lives are not worth it! That doesn't seem like and idea Paul Farmer would have at all.
"Because, A, he's a human being, and B, because I didn't know he couldn't be treated, and C, why shouldn't he have a comfortable way to die, why shouldn't his mother have a private room without flies on her face to grieve in? Can we not have him in a place where people are trained in palliation? Isn't palliative care important?" (Kidder, 277) This quote pretty much describes the core beliefs of Paul Farmer on illness and dying. I couldn't agree with it more.
Thoughts:
When I first started reading this book, I read a quote from one of Doctor Farmer's patients saying that Farmer was a "fuckin' saint." When I first looked at it in the beginning of the book, I had my doubts. After all, treating a few patients like they are actually people shouldn't make you a saint, it should just make you a caring person. However, by the end of the book I have realized that the things Paul Farmer did for people are practically inhuman in how selfless they are. He treated all the patients he came across, and not only that, he treated them as if they were his closest friends. This kind of behavior was especialy suprising to hear about because he did not have the greatest childhood; its not like he started out with an advantage, he had to work his way to the top and from there, he gave it all back. His policies on medicine seems to be the opposite of what the United States has embraced today, and it is something that everyone can learn from.
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