Summary of Studs Terkel's Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I was born in 1931 in Watertown, South Dakota. My father was an undertaker, and I grew up with grief, though I didn’t experience it because I wasn’t part of the grieving families. I remember the enormous respect my father had for the deceased.

#2 I was programmed to be a doctor from a young age, as my father was very interested in handicapped children. I went to the Mayo Clinic for training, and after that, I worked at the Boston City Hospital.

#3 When it came to dealing with Ida’s death, I had many feelings. One was tremendous grief about her, because I had enormous respect and affection for her. Another was a sense of remorse: Did we make the wrong decisions in terms of recommending this particular course of therapy.

#4 I try to be honest with my patients, and I believe that virtually every diagnosis we deal with today holds the hope of some breakthrough in the foreseeable future. I like to bring this to my patients’ attention.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822519244

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Insights on Studs Terkel's Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I was born in 1931 in Watertown, South Dakota. My father was an undertaker, and I grew up with grief, though I didn’t experience it because I wasn’t part of the grieving families. I remember the enormous respect my father had for the deceased.

#2

I was programmed to be a doctor from a young age, as my father was very interested in handicapped children. I went to the Mayo Clinic for training, and after that, I worked at the Boston City Hospital.

#3

When it came to dealing with Ida’s death, I had many feelings. One was tremendous grief about her, because I had enormous respect and affection for her. Another was a sense of remorse: Did we make the wrong decisions in terms of recommending this particular course of therapy.

#4

I try to be honest with my patients, and I believe that virtually every diagnosis we deal with today holds the hope of some breakthrough in the foreseeable future. I like to bring this to my patients’ attention.

#5

The issue of dying is a very sensitive one in our country. It has caused a lot of emotional stress and financial problems for people who haven’t planned in advance. It has placed a lot of unnecessary burden on families.

#6

I grew up in a poor part of Phoenix. I wanted to get a college education, and I was good in school. I didn’t find out until I was in my thirties that I had been tested in kindergarten and my parents were told I should have been put in classes for very bright children.

#7

I was a nurse for two years after medical school, and then I became a doctor. I was ten years older than most of the students at Northwestern University, but I was one of the eight hundred applicants for eight positions.

#8

I am no longer a doctor, after my neck blew apart in 1993. I had spent years working towards being a physician, and it was a big loss. I had lost my love for the profession.

#9

Ultimately, who decides when you die is you. A colleague of mine had a patient in the emergency room on Christmas day saying she was sure she was going to die. The doctor did a complete workup on her, but couldn’t find anything wrong with her. She still insisted she was going to die, but she died of something else.

#10

I wanted to be a general practitioner. I loved the injured patient, and I was supremely confident in myself. I was not, however, overconfident in my technical ability.

#11

The surgeon is supremely self-confident. We whip them back from the jaws of death, and they have the scalpel and the decision to save us. But they can’t save everyone. We lose a lot, but we do save some.

#12

I love working at the County Hospital. I am able to do what I love, and I am extremely fortunate to be able to do so. I am also able to teach people, which is something I believe is important.

#13

In trauma, the surgeon has to be able to put himself into the patient’s shoes and understand what they are going through. You have to be able to tell them that their son is dead, and then let them grieve.

#14

I believe that there is a spirituality that allows us to choose good or evil. I don’t believe in a life after death, but I do believe that we