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One Curious Doctor: A Memoir of Medicine, Migration and Mortality
Hilton Koppe was working as a doctor in small-town Australia when he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. As the fallout from the trauma of the diagnosis began to settle, he tried to work out how he ended up in this position. Was the PTSD a consequence of vicarious trauma from working as a country doctor for over thirty years? Did it come from his life-long feelings of being an outsider trying so hard to fit in? Or was it a result of trauma experienced by his parents and grandparents in their search for security across three continents?
Or maybe it was all down to personality type. His nature. Did the qualities which made him a trusted doctor also make him more vulnerable to the inevitable impact of caring for people over many years?
In One Curious Doctor, Hilton Koppe writes with curiosity and compassion of his family fleeing Europe, the lessons he learned from the patients he helped, and his sadness and relief of no longer being able to practise medicine.
Or maybe it was all down to personality type. His nature. Did the qualities which made him a trusted doctor also make him more vulnerable to the inevitable impact of caring for people over many years?
In One Curious Doctor, Hilton Koppe writes with curiosity and compassion of his family fleeing Europe, the lessons he learned from the patients he helped, and his sadness and relief of no longer being able to practise medicine.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 28, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2023
In this collection of clever, readable, and engaging essays and poems, Hilton Koppe shares his (and his family's) journey. He explores the path from Lithuania to Hamburg to Paris to South Africa to Australia, each step of which influenced the person he became. He shares scenes from his four decades as a hard-working general practitioner and teacher. There are both joys and risks to his profession and he writes with well-chosen, poetic language. This book is a joy.
His description of becoming overwhelmed in his medical practice will resonate with physcians, nurses, and health care providers everywhere. I recommend this book to anyone who might benefit from seeing where his insights have taken him.
His description of becoming overwhelmed in his medical practice will resonate with physcians, nurses, and health care providers everywhere. I recommend this book to anyone who might benefit from seeing where his insights have taken him.
March 23, 2024
Hilton Koppe is first and foremost a doctor in general practice but he is also a writer and lecturer and his book combines all of these aspects of his life as he reflects on more than forty years listening to and treating patients.
He put this book together after being diagosed with PTSD. He had given so much of himself to so many people that his body and brain wanted peace, and an escape from the chaos that life as a family doctor can create.
This is really a collection of his writings over the years, to which he has added details of his family background. Before the Nazis overran Lithuania where his grandparents lived, his parents fled to South Africa and, later, from there to Australia.
An interesting read.
He put this book together after being diagosed with PTSD. He had given so much of himself to so many people that his body and brain wanted peace, and an escape from the chaos that life as a family doctor can create.
This is really a collection of his writings over the years, to which he has added details of his family background. Before the Nazis overran Lithuania where his grandparents lived, his parents fled to South Africa and, later, from there to Australia.
An interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews