Pursued by a Bear: How I Endured Years of Medical Treatment and Lived to Write About It

By describing a surprisingly large number of medical problems that began to emerge in his late sixties and the medical care he got for them, Mr. Singer reveals a medical system that is error-prone and even heartless. American medicine is clearly high-powered and advanced, but the wastes are phenomenal as is the disregard for the feelings and needs of the patient. In this book, we are taken step-by-step through the medical encounters Mr. Singer had, and through his idiosyncratic points of view, we see, largely with humor, the failings of the system. The medicine the system delivers is generally (not always) on target, but the way it delivers it is too often patronizing and even dehumanizing. There are suggestions throughout for how the situation ought to be improved. The book ends with Mr. Singer feeling triumphant over the diseases and over the medical system.