DNBT1 Archives - Duckworth Books

Diary of a Rural GP

Recently retired, Dr Sparrow reveals with refreshing candour and dark humour the most memorable experiences of his career as a rural GP.

From sewing back on a patient’s chiselled finger on a call-out, and the emergency countryside delivery inspired by James Herriot, to suddenly remembering the body left in the back of a Volvo, and a small oversight that blew up the local crematorium, Dr Sparrow spares no blushes.

Country Doctor

Have you ever had to decide what to do with an unidentified corpse by a Devonian cowshed when the herd is due in for milking? And how would you react if one of your patients was abducted by aliens?

If you are a GP it seems these are routine matters. From coping with the suicide of a colleague to the unusual whereabouts of a jar of Coleman’s mustard, this is the story of one rural doctor’s often misguided attempts to make sense of the career in which he has unwittingly found himself.

Dr Sparrow’s adventures would be utterly unbelievable were they not 100% true stories. His bedside manner may sometimes leave a little to be desired but, if you’re in dire straits, this doctor will have you in stitches.

Repeat Prescription

Dr Sparrow is back, coping with more bizarre, macabre and hilarious situations. Following his successful debut with Country Doctor, he once more guides us through the daily rounds of the weird and wonderful in his practice on the Devon/Cornwall border.

What would you do if faced with the unsuccessful resuscitation of the wrong patient, being held at gunpoint as a suspected terrorist or confronting a blind man who refuses to stop driving? And what about the little old lady who presents you with a supermarket bag stuffed with £20 notes? Add to this, jets crashing on the runway, fleeting glimpses of the Royal Genitalia and the haunting tale of the suicidal stranger and an abducted child – and you will start to have some idea of the unpredictable life of Dr Sparrow.

How Not to be a Doctor

The essential book on how not to be a doctor – and how to be a better one.

Drawn from his popular medical columns over the years, John Launer shares fifty of his best-loved essays, covering topics from essentials skills they don’t teach you in medical school to his poignant account of being a patient himself as he received treatment for a life-threatening illness. Taken together, the stories make the case that being a doctor should mean drawing on every aspect of yourself, your interests and your experiences no matter how remote they seem from the medical task at hand.

How Not to Be a Doctor combines humour, candour and the human touch to inform and entertain readers on both ends of the stethoscope.

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