“A beautifully written memoir about the author's frustration with the transformation of the profession of medicine into the business of health care, and the unraveling of the doctor-patient bond...A thoroughly compelling message- without an ethical commitment to the value of every life, 'the very humanity of our society' is at stake.”
— Kirkus (starred review) on Kitchen Shrink
A Yale-trained psychiatrist, Dora Calott Wang explores the seismic shifts that have shaken the entire medical profession. Through the prism of her own research and experience, readers watch as she struggles to maintain her professional standards as health care’s priorities veer away from the compassionate care of patients toward improving the bottom line. And the stories of some of her patients reveal an oft-ignored human side of our besieged system. As the medical landscape changes beneath Wang, she confronts depression and exhaustion, and fights to find the balance between work and home as it becomes ever clearer that she cannot untangle the uncertain futures of her patients from her own.