Telltale Hearts - by Dean-David Schillinger (Hardcover)

About the Book

"For over four decades, Dr. Dean-David Schillinger has been a witness to the evolution of public health in America. From his days as a young, bright eyed resident to the Chief of Internal Medicine at one of the country's largest public hospitals, Schillinger has seen thousands of patients and observed how our healthcare system can both work for and against them. Yet, it wasn't insurance or improved medical tests that mattered most; it was simply listening to his patients. In Telltale Hearts, Schillinger takes readers into the exam rooms of a public hospital as he recounts his various experiences he's had with patients and how listening to their stories, their backgrounds and more, revolutionized his own approach to medicine. In a hospital that serves mostly low income and marginalized populations, it was never just the injury or ailment that was the whole story but rather the social, political and racial circumstances that led patients to the hospital in the first place. A woman who refuses to take her pills actually cannot swallow them to begin with while another who seems to be skipping her insulin injections has a family member who is stealing them. A patient with Type 2 diabetes doesn't just suffer from high blood sugar but has consistently lived in a food desert where sugary beverages and unhealthy food were the only options. With each story and each patient, Schillinger urges us to look at how listening to patients not only can lead to better care in a hospital, but a more empathetic approach to public health in general. Written with compassion and introspection, Telltale Hearts is a moving portrait of modern medicine and an urgent call for change in how we, as a society, take care of our own"--

Book Synopsis

A doctor's powerful meditation on what his patients taught him, and what they can teach us about listening, healing, and public health.

For over three decades, Dr. Dean-David Schillinger has served in one of the country's busiest and most important public hospitals. A public health leader and primary care physician for underserved patients, Schillinger learned that high-tech tests and novel medications are often not enough to save lives. Rather, accurate diagnosis, treatment and true healing come from listening deeply to patients and their stories.

In Telltale Hearts, Schillinger reveals what is lost when patients' stories are ignored or overlooked, and how much is gained when these stories are actively elicited. The stories themselves, at times shocking and always revelatory, disclose secrets, prompt awe, forge unexpected connections, and even catalyze public health action.

Telltale Hearts serves as a call to action, urging us to reshape public policy to improve the nation's health.

Review Quotes

"Telltale Hearts is about a burgeoning area of medical research: the ways in which socioeconomic factors like poverty, racism and marginalization -- and associated ills like food deserts, housing insecurity and exposure to pollution and violence -- shape the health of many Americans, as well as society's obligation to do better."
--The New York Times

"A humble and honest, heroic and heartrending account of humanistic medicine."--Booklist (starred)

"Telltale Hearts digs deep into the humanity of patients and caregivers alike, revealing the indispensable connection between medicine and storytelling. Timely and telling!"
--Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, editor in Chief, Bellevue Literary Review, and author of What Doctors Feel

"Schillinger, a master clinician, uses powerful stories to bring the reader face-to-face with the root causes of the nation's most pressing health problems and the imperative to enact desperately needed changes in health policy and public health. A compelling, beautifully written must-read for all of us who have a personal stake in improving our health and the health of our communities."
--Ronald Epstein, MD, author of Attending

"With this remarkable work, woven from strands of memoir, reportage, prophecy, and stinging indictment, shot through with bright threads of humor and tenderness, and beautifully written, Dean-David Schillinger brings clarity, curiosity, patience, understanding, and an undeniable literary gift to bear on the practice of medicine in this inhumane age."
--Michael Chabon, author of Moonglow

About the Author

Dean-David Schillinger MD is a primary care physician, scientist, author, and public health advocate. He is an internationally recognized expert in health communication and has been widely recognized for his work related to improving the health of marginalized populations. He is credited with a number of discoveries in primary care and health communication and is considered a pioneer of the field of health literacy. He is the inaugural recipient of the Andrew B. Bindman Professorship in Primary Care and Health Policy at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Schillinger has served as chief of the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital, and chief of the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program for the California Department of Public Health. In 2006, he co-founded the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, a leading research center committed to addressing the social, environmental and commercial determinants of health through research, education, policy, and practice. He currently directs the UCSF Health Communications Research Program.