Physician Heal Thyself by Al Sutton M.D.

Les, a young physician, begins a Residency program in Psychiatry in New York. Restless, unsettled, and yearning for self-understanding, he chooses to do his last two years of training in San Francisco and San Juan. Through his experiences, he learns more about his own insecurities and fears, and how to negotiate them. His first position on returning to New York, staff psychiatrist at a University Hospital, introduces him to the academic medical environment, which he finds oppressive. The structure of the psychiatry program, ruled by a rigid set of values, often leads to inappropriate labeling of patients and ineffective treatment. On the occasions that he tries to introduce a broader approach, he is subjected to ridicule by his peers. He soon learns that the Medical Center is governed by a patriarchal paradigm. Professional jealousies dominate, and lead to power struggles, intrigues and vindictive behavior. Les, though not ambitious, and preferring to be neutral, finds himself in the midst of a situation involving corruption in his own department. He acts as he must; the choices he makes have grave consequences for the hospital structure and for him. He is left dazzled by the outcome, and staring into the blank space of an indeterminate future.