Tales from Kentucky Doctors

William Lynwood Montell

University Press of Kentucky, Mar 14, 2008 - Humor - 258 pages

The nearly 350 humorous, heartwarming, and sometimes tragic accounts presented in William Lynwood Montell's latest book, Tales from Kentucky Doctors, offer an unusual perspective on the culture and tradition of Kentucky health-care practice. From the laughable to the laudable, Tales from Kentucky Doctors present illuminating portraits of doctors and patients, drawing stories from physicians with lifetimes of experience serving Kentucky families. In chapter 2, doctors recall the successes and failures that shaped their early careers. For Dr. Baretta R. Casey of Hazard, becoming a doctor was a difficult journey. Already married and with a child, Casey enrolled in college at age thirty, later completed medical school, and began a successful career as a family practitioner in the 1990s. Though patient visitations and doctors' prescriptions are recorded on account ledgers, personal relationships and memories are not part of medical records. The section "Personal Practice" gives a glimpse of the intimate relationships doctors form with their communities. "I doubt that any individual was nearer to the family than the family doctor," Dr. W. L. Tyler says in one story. For many towns, family physicians were heroes. Dr. James S. Brashear relates the challenges of practicing in Central City, a coal mining town, recalling an incident in which he saved the lives of two miners. Handed down to Montell in the oral tradition, the tales presented in this collection represent every part of the state. Personal experiences, humorous anecdotes, and local legends make it a fascinating panorama of Kentucky physicians and of the communities they served.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• 1Choosing The Medical Profession: 9
• 2Medical Training and Early Career: 24
• 3Other Doctors: 44
• 4House Calls: 66
• 5Personal Practice: 101
• 6Hospital Practice: 139
• 7Medications: 165
• 8Special Deliveries: 172
• 9Regrettable Cases: 187
• 10Epidemics and Outbreaks: 196
• 11Folk Healing: 209
• 12Animal Stories: 216
• 13Doctors Social Events: 225
• 14Medical Practice Then and Now: 228
• Biographies of Storytellers: 243

Popular passages

Page 244 - Women and clinical associate professor in the department of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona...‎

Page 104 - That was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I'm glad I did it.‎

Page 244 - He then received his medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1975.‎

Page 246 - ... Societies, the federal bureaucracy, the public sector, and residents (American Medical Association [AMA], 1984-1985). The ACGME is responsible for establishment of the general requirements governing graduate medical education. The RRC is composed of representatives from the American Medical Association, the American Board of Family Practice, and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AMA, 1984-1985). The RRC is responsible for the establishment of the "Special Requirements" that define the...‎

Page 34 - George who asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I told him I wanted to go into the navy. 'Why the navy?‎

Page 76 - I knocked on the door and a woman came to the door. She says, "Dr. Shipp, come in. What are you doing out?‎

About the author

William Lynwood Montell, professor emeritus of folk studies at Western Kentucky University, is the author of several books, including Ghosts across Kentucky and Tales from Kentucky Lawyers.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Tales from Kentucky Doctors
• Author: William Lynwood Montell
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2008
• ISBN: 081317290X, 9780813172903
• Length: 258 pages
• Subjects: Humor / Topic / Business & Professional; Medical / History; Social Science / Folklore & Mythology