A humorous, anecdotal history of the author's medical practice from 1936 to 1988, it describes a simpler time, during which doctors practiced without many of the problems that face modern physicians: forms to complete for every procedure, overcrowded offices, second opinions, high insurance costs, etc. In fact, much of the book is about the unique doctor-patient relationships that existed before the age of health insurance. It was a different kind of time, when the family doctor often met his patient at the emergency room and remained the sole treating physician throughout the hospital stay.

A humorous anecdotal history of his medical practice from 1936-1988 in rural Southwest Virginia.

This book contains my reflections upon my 26 years as an "old time" generalist family physician in rural America. It is merely a collection of stories that depict some of my many experiences over the years. The stories mirror those of many of my generalist colleagues who have experienced "the trenches" of rural primary care. My stories span the breadth and depth of the discipline of rural family medicine. Stories range from assisting mothers giving birth to caring for and comforting those at the end of life, from performing surgery to becoming involved in one's community, and from making house calls to providing emergency room care. Some are silly, some are sad, some are funny, and some may make you mad. JIMMIE ASHCRAFT, M.D. Doctor Ashcraft is a graduate of the University of Oregon Medical School. He was a member of the clinical staff of the University of Washington Medical School for 30 years. Doctor Ashcraft and his wife, Kay, live in Montana. They have three grown children and six grandchildren.

In the dead of night in 1894, a trembling, wide-eyed 13-year-old boy assisted with his first surgery--an experience that changed his life. Robert H. Wright attended medical school, then returned home to Hailey, Idaho, to marry Cynthia Beamer, his childhood sweetheart, and to practice in the frontier west--a choice that required both rugged courage and devoted compassion. Called to risk his own life on multiple occasions, he remained composed during a crisis, and his gentle confidence calmed traumatized victims. At times, he performed operations by lantern light and traveled by buggy, dog sled, or Studebaker to reach remote patients. In 1917, he led the rescue effort at the North Star mine avalanche disaster. Eventually, the doctor welcomed a grandson, also named Robert Wright, who eagerly absorbed thrilling tales of a pioneer past. Yet despite their close relationship, the younger Wright sensed mysterious secrets and unspoken heartbreak, and he began to probe for the untold stories. In Rugged Mercy, he unravels and celebrates the lives of his beloved grandparents. Alternating between accounts of the doctor’s decades of medicine and his own memories of growing up in Hailey, the author provides an intimate glimpse of challenges faced by rural physicians in the first half of the 1900s, of significant events in the history and evolution of the Wood River Valley and Sun Valley resort, and of family life in a small Idaho community.

"This book was previously published in 2004 under the title The apprenticeship of Doctor Laverty, by Insomniac Press, Toronto"--T.p. verso.

In this quietly revolutionary work of social observation and medical philosophy, Booker Prize-winning writer John Berger and the photographer Jean Mohr train their gaze on an English country doctor and find a universal man--one who has taken it upon himself to recognize his patient's humanity when illness and the fear of death have made them unrecognizable to themselves. In the impoverished rural community in which he works, John Sassall tend the maimed, the dying, and the lonely. He is not only the dispenser of cures but the repository of memories. And as Berger and Mohr follow Sassall about his rounds, they produce a book whose careful detail broadens into a meditation on the value we assign a human life. First published thirty years ago, A Fortunate Man remains moving and deeply relevant--no other book has offered such a close and passionate investigation of the roles doctors play in their society. "In contemporary letters John Berger seems to me peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience." --Susan Sontag