Books: General Practice as if People Mattered: Collected Medical Essays 1998–2017

Over decades working as a GP in Essex, a hospital doctor in Malawi, and a medical examiner for Freedom from Torture in London, Dr Gervase Vernon has used writing as a way of exploring and marshalling his thoughts, and contributing to debate. Many of his essays have been published in the BJGP, and these are included in this diverse, diverting, and whimsical collection, along with other essays, short stories, a method for teaching medical statistics, and a dissertation on ‘non-family carers’.

Vernon’s pet themes are ‘altruism’ and ‘the nature of the consultation’. In Vernon’s view, people do matter! Indeed, people are the matter of medicine. To effectively and humanely treat patients we need to first understand that humans are social creatures — they exist and feel well or unwell in a social context — and then make sure we understand and communicate within the patient’s conceptual framework rather than speaking in the ‘monologising discourse’ of science.

Pieces cover some of the thorniest and liveliest ethical areas of medical practice: abortion, immunisation, the limits of science, treatment of the most vulnerable, NHS reform, and moral discussions during consultations.

Aspects of Vernon’s biography — his Roman Catholicism, his Polish refugee mother — inform his work. Examples include his trenchant defence of the right of refugees and asylum seekers to receive free health care in the UK, and the difficulty of discussing moral matters when one’s personal view (as regards abortion) is at odds with the prevailing winds.

Whatever the topic, this engaging book tirelessly advocates for humility and open-mindedness in medical practice.

• © British Journal of General Practice 2019