The Doctor as Writer

Writers are a diverse lot. We come from every possible background and occupation. What is special about coming to writing from a medical background? I think that because doctors are accustomed to continually learning, we are open to new thoughts, new ideas and new ways of looking at the old. Each new piece of information must be weighed for its value, as it may be entirely useless or a true breakthrough. Reading stimulates ideas, and as we read a great deal of technical material, it is no surprise that many writers from medical backgrounds write about what they know best: medicine.

I spend a lot of my day listening to people. They tell me about their problems, their ailments, their jobs, their families, what they think about their coworkers, their significant others, their pets. While other writers may have to seek out such opportunities to hear a wealth of stories, I am awash in this. None of these stories is anything I would use directly, of course, but often some small piece sets off my imagination about possibilities. It may become part of a mosaic of many such pieces from different sources to form a whole, entirely apart from what investigated it.

Being organized is helpful in writing and crucial in medicine. Having a sense of structure — a beginning, middle and an end – and seeing the overall concept as a whole is part of the medical, as well as the writing process. When I worked in the emergency department, I often thought of the brief encounters over simple problems as a story in themselves: a patient would come in with a problem, we would find a solution, and they would be on their way.

One does a lot of writing in medicine. Every time a patient comes into the hospital- whether it be a trip to the emergency department or to be admitted – one or more doctors has to write a history and physical. The history, the medical story of a person’s life and present illness, is often the most important part of finding out what is wrong. This is also how we pass the information on to the next doctor or caregiver. Telling this story clearly and coherently is important, and taking the step from writing about a real person to a fictional character is not a quantum leap.

Click here to read an interview with Barbara Wilhelm.

Barbara Wilhelm (Mela Barrows Bennett) is the author of Murder Makes the Rounds.