Category Archives: Humanism

Book Submitted For Publication- Yeah!!

After two decades of research and three years of writing, my manuscript that is tetatively titled, Hitler: Prescription For Defeat has been submitted for publication. Few people who have not written a book understand how arduous the process really is.

In my case my editor for Carrying The Black Bag: A Neurologist’s Bedside Tales requested I expand the chapter on Hitler’s illnesses from my prior book into a full length book. She believed such a book would appeal to a substantial audience. The new book covers much more than his Parkinson’s disease by including his coronary artery disease, his intestinal problems, other more minor illnesses, his medications along with discussion of his very unusual personality. The impact of his poor health and abnormal personality is discussed in terms of their effect on three major battles (Operation Barbarossa which was the Invasion of the Soviet Union, The Battle of Normandy, and The Battle of the Bulge) in World War II. Suffice it to say, we can be grateful Hitler was so sick and screwed up!

Since this book was requested by my editor, here’s hoping this provides “a leg up” on acceptance. Am keeping my fingers crossed. Even then the process would take the remainder of the year and no doubt further revisions, gathering of the Forewords, help with marketing, hiring a publicist, and completion of an Appendix. The road is long.

Nevertheless, I am greatly relieved by completing this step in the process. Also I am most appreciative of friends and family who have acted as readers and encouragers (I’m looking at you LaNelle, Madelyn, Janet, Tom, and Trudy among others).

In the meantime I would hope you would give my earlier book a look. Carrying The Black Bag has been very well reviewed and describes wonderful people who placed their faith in my medical hands, and by so doing, shared their incredible narratives. From such heroic and brave individuals came a volume that says much good about the human condition. It also includes a surprising amount of humor. The book can be purchased from Amazon or your local book stores. Also please check out the website http://tomhuttonmd.com for further information and reviews of my book.

Carrying the Black Bag book

I’ll try to keep you updated on the progress of the new book. Also hopefully now I will have time to place more blog posts. Recently all my creative energies have been focused on completing the Hitler book. Now I should have more time to write on other topics. Thanks and hope you keep reading…

Still More Praise For Carrying The Black Bag

An appreciative reader penned the review below for the Journal of Neurological Sciences. It has been accepted and is now in print online.

While the predominant audience for Carrying The Black Bag: A Neurologist’s Bedside Tales was thought to be a popular audience, the book has also been very well received by physicians, nurses, and allied health personnel.  This acceptance has proved most gratifying for the author as my book deals principally with a humanistic approach to medicine. The author of the book review, Dr. Steve Roach, got it! For this I am most grateful.

Carrying the Black Bag book

Makes a great Holiday gift and available online or favorite bookstore

Carrying The Black Bag makes a great Christmas (Hanukkah) gift and can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Texas Tech University Press, as well as your local independent bookstore.

Dr. Roach’s review is as follows:

 

Book Review

Carrying the Black Bag: A Neurologist’s Bedside Tales, by Tom Hutton, 240 pages. Texas Tech University Press, 2015. $27.95.

  1. Steve Roach, MD

Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio

esroach@earthlink.net

 

Key words: humanism; history of medicine; Parkinson disease

 

Thomas Hutton is a retired neurologist whose career spanned four decades. During this time, he witnessed the introduction of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and numerous new medications. He experienced the dawn of the genetic revolution and the arrival of the electronic medical record. But this book is about people, not technology, so it is fitting that the metaphor Hutton selected for the title of his reminiscences is the traditional black physician’s bag.

Hutton is a master story teller whose patient sketches are reminiscent of those of A. R. Luria and Oliver Sachs. He studied with Luria and duly credits the influence of both men. Hutton intermingles his own story with those of his patients, telling of the football injury that led to his becoming a doctor and his days as a trainee with A. B. Baker. There is even an entertaining medical detective story about a man with repeated arsenic poisoning.

But the heart and soul of this book are the lovingly told patient stories. Never have I read a more poignant tale of love lost than Hutton’s account of Maggie and Ned, two poor migrant workers who had been life-long soul-mates until Maggie’s sudden death. One cannot help but smile at the elderly man who pleaded for relief after his girlfriend developed nymphomania due to her Parkinson disease medication. There is a sweet story about an elderly man who made sandwiches each afternoon for three dogs who came to play pinochle, a complex but pleasant hallucination resulting from his medication. Whether sad or funny, Hutton’s patient stories are respectfully told and never patronizing.

To practice humanistic medicine, one must be in touch with one’s own humanity. Clearly the author has a deep respect for people and a keen eye for the human condition. This is an entertaining book that most physicians will enjoy reading. It also offers an effective antidote for the technology overload of today’s medicine and a glimpse at what medicine once was and could be again.