Doctors Still Talk About ‘The House of God’ Novel – NYTimes.com
A Book Doctors Can’t Close
By HOWARD MARKEL, M.D.It was a raunchy, troubling and hilarious novel that turned into a cult phenomenon devoured by a legion of medical students, interns, residents and doctors. It introduced characters like “Fat Man” — the all-knowing but crude senior resident — and medical slang like Gomer, for Get Out of My Emergency Room.
Skip to next paragraphCalled “The House of God,” the book was drawn from real life, and 30 years after its initial publication, it is still part of the medical conversation.
I still recommend it to future medical students, though I don’t know why. It’s an entertaining book, and while medicine (and I hear resident education) have moved on, it’s a classic.
I’ve been told (by numerous physicians in my city) that “Fat Man” is a local practicing GI doc. I drive myself crazy trying to figure out who he is.
I think of my new book as the outpatient version of House of God.
I wholeheartedly DON’T recommend it. Actually it’s pretty stupid and produces a highly inaccurate picture of residency and medical school.
I would rather have residents and students read Message to Garcia.
I, too, thought it was a bad book. I prefer Intern Blues – turned my blood cold when I read it as a stud, and still gives me the willies
Need to see the film based on the book!! never found it on DVD nor video though. I saw it fist, then found the book. i even used the book as a basis for a MSN presentation in holistic nursing class–something we felt strong about–for me–GOMERS–i LOVE CARING FOR THEM!
House of God is a classic. If somebody wants to read about more contemporary training (presumably with a west coast bias) I would recommend Audry Young’s books What Patients Taught Me: A Medical Student’s Journey and The House of Hope and Fear: Life in a Big City Hospital.
We still talk about it. Rule #3 is a good rule (At a code, the first thing to do is to take your own pulse). People spaz out when the code pager goes off but it’s important to stop – take a breath – and start thinking. We joke about “orthopedic height” for the beds and no body cavity being unreachable. I remember during my medicine clerkship as a 3rd year med student being asked what the dosing of lasix is. I muttered “age plus BUN” under my breath and the attending pointed at me and said, “You’re right!” Then we talked about the real dosing but I couldn’t believe that an attending recognized that.
“House of God” is mandatory reading… every ‘stud should digest the volume in its entirely (if only to understand the philosophy of euboxism), followed by the cynical-but-accurate “Medical Student’s Survival Guide.”
Additional reading for EM-bound studs should include “The Rape of Emergency Medicine.”