Book Review

Doctors Do Cry: The stories Doctors rarely tell! 2^nd edition, A. Goel, editor. Paras Medical Publisher, Hyderabad, 2025. 270 pages. Price: Not mentioned.

ISBN: 978-81-8191-581-8

This book is the second edition of a collection of personal narratives and short stories and poems written by more than 60 doctors. It shows the depth of often untapped writing talent among doctors around the world. Contrary to the general perception, and teaching, of the doctor as a detached person who is unfazed by the suffering they witness in their daily lives, these stories plumb the inner wealth of compassion and empathy beneath the surface now hidden behind the masks that they wear, and obscured by the rituals around illness, dying, and death.

That doctors are emotionally vulnerable to the effects of the environment that they are compelled to work in is not new, the re-emerging field of ‘Health Humanities’, previously ‘Medical Humanities’, is witness to that. The need of the hour is to encourage the writing and documentation of those experiences for others to share. As every doctor knows, the stories in themselves are commonplace, potentially every clinical encounter being a relatable story; what makes them unique is that they are being told.

On opening the book, the reader is greeted by a charming wood-cut illustration of a good doctor by a (late) friend of the editor, followed by forewords by eminent doctors, acknowledgements, and prefaces to the two editions. Instead of going directly to the stories, there is next a section on profiles of the authors themselves. I found this feature particularly appealing since it introduces the reader to the humans behind the stories that follow Instead of pooling them together in alphabetical order, I thought that it might have worked better if each author profile could have followed the story, because that would reduce the back-and-forth pedalling after having read each story.

The stories featured in this book are as varied as the authors are; and they all engage the reader in different ways. In a multi-author book like this one, particularly when the narratives are so emotionally loaded, it is futile to strive for uniformity in writing style, and the editor has wisely refrained from trying to do that; however, it is noticeable that for many writers whose first language is not English, errors of grammar and syntax tend to creep in. Future print runs/editions of the book could do with tighter, more professional editing. The illustrations by Sonam Palzom and others are simple and telling. Scattered throughout the book, these provide room for rumination and respite from the sometimes overwhelming emotions evoked by the stories. The short selection of poems at the end of the book of stories does not really belong, but this reviewer does realize that poetry in the realm of the Health Humanities still has a long way to traverse before it merits a book of its own.

In conclusion, this book should find a place in every doctor’s personal collection and in the Health Humanities section of libraries of medical institutions. The stories are relatable and can be read and enjoyed many times after the initial reading has faded from memory. Interested readers may wish to add other books to their bucket lists. Doctors Do Cry would rightfully share the space in my bookshelf with the writings of William Carlos Williams, Oliver Sacks, Ranjana Shrivastav, Jimmy Mathew, Abraham Varghese, S.G. Kabra, Atul Gawande, M.R. Rajagopal, and Paul Kalanithi, to name just a few. Readers may wish to access similar writings in journals such as Hektoen International, and RHiME - the latter being the only indigenous journal dedicated to the Health Humanities.