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STORYLINE


Dr Roy Basch is a new .


LAWS OF THE HOUSE OF GOD

# GOMER S DON’T DIE.
#GOMERS GO TO GROUND.
#AT A CARDIAC ARREST , THE FIRST PROCEDURE IS TO TAKE YOUR OWN PULSE.
#THE PATIENT IS THE ONE WITH THE DISEASE.
#PLACEMENT COMES FIRST.
#THERE IS NO BODY CAVITY THAT CANNOT BE REACHED WITH A #14 NEEDLE AND A GOOD STRONG ARM.
#AGE + BUN = LASIX DOSE.
#THEY CAN ALWAYS HURT YOU MORE.
#THE ONLY GOOD ADMISSION IS A DEAD ADMISSION.
#IF YOU DON’T TAKE A TEMPERATURE, YOU CAN’T FIND A FEVER.
#SHOW ME A MEDICAL STUDENT WHO ONLY TRIPLES MY WORK AND I WILL KISS HIS FEET.
#IF THE RADIOLOGY RESIDENT AND THE MEDICAL STUDENT BOTH SEE A LESION ON THE CHEST X-RAY, THERE CAN BE NO LESION THERE.
#THE DELIVERY OF GOOD MEDICAL CARE IS TO DO AS MUCH NOTHING AS POSSIBLE.


CONTEXT AND IMPACT

The book is very likely Autobiographical , with the BMS being Harvard Medical School (commonly called HMS), and The House of God is quite likely Beth Israel Hospital now a part of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center , one of the HMS-affiliated hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts .

It is very likely that some details have been exaggerated (such as an orgy in the resuscitation room), but upon its appearance, many American doctors felt that the story resonated with their own experiences during their internship training.

Several of the concepts developed in the book have found their way into the jargon of junior hospital staff:
  • ''To Bounce'' (verb: a turf that has returned to its first department)

  • ''Gomer'' (noun: Get Out of My Emergency Room - a patient who is frequently admitted with complicated but uninspiring and incurable conditions)

  • ''To Turf'' (verb: to find an excuse to refer a patient to a different department or team)

  • ''Zebra'' (noun: a very unlikely diagnosis where a more common disease would be more likely to cause a patient's symptoms - from the common admonition that "if you hear hoof beats, it's more likely to be a horse than a zebra")



CRITICISM

Criticisms leveled immediately against the work are the depersonification of patients, Ageism , Sexism and the account of Euthanasia . The bleak mood was hardly considered representative of the noble art of medicine.


MISCELLANEOUS

In 1979 , a film was made out of the book.

In-joke s abound in the work. One of the principal characters is ''Eat My Dust Eddy'', a doctor so-called because of the saying embroidered on his jacket. His name is often abbreviated as EMD, which is also an acronym of the feared Medical Emergency Electromechanical Dissociation .


BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Samuel Shem. ''The House of God''. 1979 . ISBN 0440133688.

  • Samuel Shem. ''Mount Misery''. 1999 . ISBN 0552998133. Sequel of The House of God, (covering the hero's psychiatric residency).



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