"Kind & Sensible" follows the fictional emotional journey of Dr. Jonathan Barber, an old-school gastroenterologist who finds himself adrift in a world where medical practice and societal norms seem to be leaving him behind. When his wife dies, his estranged daughter, Margaret, returns home to visit with her father and learn more about the unapproachable man she felt was absent for most of her life. As Margaret uncovers the societal barriers to honest discussions about illness and mortality - and learns the sordid tale behind her father's forced early retirement for medicine - she takes readers along her journey to understanding the need for a realistic resetting of expectations about what medicine can and can’t do.

One complaint about my medical education is that I always feel there is more room to talk about ethics and the role of the physician in bringing a balance of truth and consequences to patients and their families. I thought this book did a good job of setting up an interesting medical dilemma for readers to parse through, and also asked a lot of interesting questions about the "could, should, and would" of medicine that exists in a grey area. I liked that they more technical aspects of conversations were thoroughly explained for the ley reader (medically-minded readers may also appreciate having these reminders), and thought that there were some good points raised here that patients may even want to bring up to their physicians and family themselves. Overall, I think books like these are important for bringing up difficult conversations, and are great tools for patients, physicians, and other providers to bring light to more difficult topics.

John Barber is one of those old fashioned doctors with a kindly bedside manner and good values.

He makes a decision to help a terminally ill patient his career is over and his life changes for ever.

This is an interesting and factual read. I loved the build up to the event and the aftermath was described in a truthful and real to life way. There is no messing about and you really do form an opinion of John and the situation very quickly.

a fascinating and brilliant read.

This was a very interesting book to read! This book covers many medico-legal terminology and medical ethics topics such as informed consent, capacity, advance directives, substituted judgement, and end of life care, to name a few. This book also covers the schism between how medicine was practiced and is now practiced, focusing specifically on the standard of care for evidence based medicine, decision algorithms, and the balance between patient autonomy and medical paternalism. There is also a significant discussion of how patients and their complaints against doctors and the healthcare system often tax the reserves of many burnt out doctors who lack the resources and funding to give the best patient care, as well as a discussion of quality of life and acknowledgement of the value in comfort care measures. As someone who is about to become a doctor in the US, this was an affirming read for me because the frustrations of the US healthcare system are similar to what is seen in the UK, and it’s helpful to hear other people air their grievances.

The format of these topics is interesting - delivered through a fictionalized story likely to make non-medical readers more interested, there is an element of autobiographical nature that runs through this work. I personally found the narrative to be truthful, and explained complicated medical topics as said above well and with little superfluous and taxing medical terminology. It’s hard to get a non-medical person to listen to the struggles of healthcare workers, especially when we’re now at a time where the medical field and science itself is disrespected. I for one though, found this to be a well-informed and engaging read.

My thanks to NetGalley, The Book Guild, and the author for allowing me to read an electronic ARC of this work in exchange for an open and honest review!

i wasnt sure about this book. i dont want to give anything away so its hard to write my feelings towards it. but id certainly do research into the contents of it because it wasnt an easy read for the subjects it touched upon.
i would like to go back over it again i tihnk as i think my first read it hit a bit too close and so i was automatically emotionally on the back foot. i think i went in expecting something and was given another.
but it was well written so maybe i do need to go back and try again.