William A. Nolen
1928-1986
Other Works
A Surgeon's World
Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle
A Surgeon's Book of Hope
From Scalpel to Pen William A. Nolen gained national attention in the early 1970s after the publication of his book The Making of a Surgeon, from which "The First Appendectomy" is taken. In it he wrote frankly of his experiences as an intern and resident in the 1950s at Bellevue Hospital and of the tremendous pressures doctors face. After the book was published, Nolen made frequent appearances on late-night TV talk shows. One reviewer felt the book was "remarkable for its wit and honesty. ... As a chronicle of life in a big municipal hospital ... it is a horror story told in straightforward, ghastly detail. ... Nothing quite like it has ever been written about American medicine before." Although he acknowledged that many other doctors felt he had betrayed the medical profession, Nolen countered that he didn't "see why there has to be so much mystery to medicine."
On the Other Side of the Knife Nolen became a general surgeon in Minnesota in 1960 and eventually wrote eight books, claiming that writing made him a better doctor by helping him understand the patient's perspective. By 1975 he gained that perspective firsthand, when his own struggle with heart disease led to his having heart bypass surgery. He detailed this experience in his book Surgeon Under the Knife. In an article written for Esquire magazine around that time, he wrote, "I ... have high blood pressure. My father died at 58 of 'heart trouble.' ... [T]he possibility of heart attack threatens my horizon." Following further bypass surgery in 1986, Dr. Nolen died in Minneapolis, coincidentally at age 58.
|
|
