General+Practice+D.G

Deanna Gamble - "Heirs of General Practice." The New Yorker (23 July 1984), 40-85

This article beings by setting up a slew of characters, all wanting to practice family medicine. McPhee goes through these characters developing their characters a bit, giving some background information and their purpose for entering this type of medicine. McPhee also briefly explains the trouble that many of these people go through with defending their decision to join this field and section of medicine. Some struggles that these people have to endure are the criticisms from their colleagues that family medicine is boring and that they will not be using their “smarts” to full potential.

McPhee describes the experience of one G.P in particular, that he was criticized about how boring it would be dealing with the same thing over and over again. However he argued back saying that practising family medicine has such variety and that you never know what you will be dealing with next. The way McPhee writes about these doctors, he clearly expresses their compassion they have for their patients and their practice. He goes on to explain an experience where a woman is bringing her older mother to be treated and that there is a slight confusion which woman the doctor is actually treating. The doctor says that the distinction does matter because that is what he is there for. The way McPhee writes about these family doctors allows the reader to gather a sense of passion that G.P's have for their practice and also the relationships that can be developed through this type of practice that would not be possible through other practices.

As the article goes on McPhee explains (flawlessly, I might add) other visits with many other patients and to me, what seems chaotic. These patients are all going to see their doctor for at times valid reasons however bring personal life complaints along with the visit and other times, patients come with hidden agendas just to have someone to talk to. This to me (not that I didn't think this before) makes me that family medicine is just as complex if not more so than speciality medicine. I am stressed out just reading what the doctor has to listen to.

It's important to note that these are rural communities with not many places to turn to see help and talk and the time of course. Mainly all rural stories from Maine.

There is a pattern present in this article that I have noticed with the dialogue similar to that in many of the others that I have read as well. The way McPhee puts the dialogue directly in the text as a conversation and not a side note, it allows the reader to read through the piece with flow. When I read this dialogue, it does not distract me, it feels more natural than anything, almost as if I am right there carrying on the conversation.

McPhee goes on to argue the great value that should be placed on General Practitioners. He discusses the implications that living in rural areas can have on sick people when there are no doctors living in close proximity. This article is going through each doctor that was mentioned in the first couple of pages, their practices and where they are in their lives as of the time the article was written.

Again in this piece McPhee does include detail, however it varies from what I am used to. This type of detail has more to do with continuous description about various happenings to get a point across. McPhee is explaining several patient cases from each of the doctors so that it ensures the reader understands what is going on and how the doctors deal with it. McPhee is telling the story here of great family doctors and just how important they are to the medical field regardless of what other doctors who consider themselves to be dealing with more complex issues may think.