TY - JOUR T1 - Books: <em>Family Medicine. The Medical Life History of Families</em> JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 205 LP - 205 DO - 10.3399/bjgp16X684625 VL - 66 IS - 645 AU - Domhnall MacAuley Y1 - 2016/04/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/66/645/205.1.abstract N2 - Family Medicine: The Medical Life History of Families FJA Huygen First published by Dekker and Van de Vegt, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 1978. Republished by the Exeter Publications office of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1990, with the permission of the publisher, 978-0850841473My parents’ surgery was in an extension of our home. As children, we answered the phone, gave out prescriptions at the front door when the surgery was closed, and often helped with filing letters or doing other paperwork during school holidays. Growing up, we came to know the patients of the practice and saw how health and sickness weaved through generations.So, when I first read Family Medicine: The Medical Life History of Families by Frans Huygen, I almost recognised these patients, though from a different country and a very different culture. Describing his patients in a way that we probably could not do now, he shared their personal lives, the family dynamics, how illness repeated in mothers and daughters, … ER -