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A review by inhisbluegardens
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
It's me, back at it again, reading popular books five hundred years after everyone else has. I effing loved this book - absolutely worth the hype. Adam Kay recounts the highs and lows of his medical career with humour and the most brutal honesty. His anecdotes had me ugly-snorting in public and deeply self-conscious of over-the-shoulder readers on public transport (Kay was an obstetrician and gynaecologist so expect an uncountable number of graphic descriptions of various objects where they shouldn't be, to put it extremely mildly. Also, babies.) We all are surely aware of the extreme pressures that healthcare professionals are under in this country, not least because of the current You-Know-What, but to read someone's personal experience of it was truly eye-opening.
To be overworked, understaffed, shockingly underpaid and just obscenely under-supported much of the time and all the while sacrificing life events often to the point of relationship breakdown for this absolute farce of a government to turn around and call you greedy and selfish for asking to be correctly supported in your job? BYE.
Kay makes a really good point that the public often fails to see doctors as actual people and that really resonated with me. Even in "The Before Times" many consider healthcare professionals as walking solutions to their problems, without thinking that whatever they've said or done to them is often taken home by them. Maybe I'm projecting here, but from my experience, this attitude has largely remained throughout this pandemic on the frontline of healthcare, to some degree. I can understand why eventually, even the most sincere of thank yous wasn't enough for Kay to remain a medic.
Although this is an account of one doctor's experience in our National Health Service, it is also, in my opinion, a damnation of what happens when the government tries to privatise and sell off to the highest bidder at every opportunity a service that every single person depends on. The NHS is one of the best things about living in the UK but the way it is continuously abused and taken advantage of is arguably one of the worst. The NHS is nothing short of miraculous. From womb to tomb, free at point of use and every staff member, from consultant to F1 to nurse to anaesthetist to paramedic to midwife to pharmacist to porter to cleaner to administrative staff, is an invaluable asset to a system that literally works to keep this country alive. Thank you.
To Boris Johnson and his spineless, greedy cretins and everyone who votes for them and this nonsense? Kindly get fucked. :)
(This turned into a bit of a rant but I really loved this book. Five stars. NOICE.)
To be overworked, understaffed, shockingly underpaid and just obscenely under-supported much of the time and all the while sacrificing life events often to the point of relationship breakdown for this absolute farce of a government to turn around and call you greedy and selfish for asking to be correctly supported in your job? BYE.
Kay makes a really good point that the public often fails to see doctors as actual people and that really resonated with me. Even in "The Before Times" many consider healthcare professionals as walking solutions to their problems, without thinking that whatever they've said or done to them is often taken home by them. Maybe I'm projecting here, but from my experience, this attitude has largely remained throughout this pandemic on the frontline of healthcare, to some degree. I can understand why eventually, even the most sincere of thank yous wasn't enough for Kay to remain a medic.
Although this is an account of one doctor's experience in our National Health Service, it is also, in my opinion, a damnation of what happens when the government tries to privatise and sell off to the highest bidder at every opportunity a service that every single person depends on. The NHS is one of the best things about living in the UK but the way it is continuously abused and taken advantage of is arguably one of the worst. The NHS is nothing short of miraculous. From womb to tomb, free at point of use and every staff member, from consultant to F1 to nurse to anaesthetist to paramedic to midwife to pharmacist to porter to cleaner to administrative staff, is an invaluable asset to a system that literally works to keep this country alive. Thank you.
To Boris Johnson and his spineless, greedy cretins and everyone who votes for them and this nonsense? Kindly get fucked. :)
(This turned into a bit of a rant but I really loved this book. Five stars. NOICE.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent