Purple Coat Club news

The Purple Coat Club meeting this month has been put back to Tuesday, 1 November, which means you have time still to read the book under discussion: 'The House of God' by Samuel Shem. It's the sort of book which will either delight or horrify you, and there is bound to be lively debate about the way in which it depicts the medical profession. So that's Tuesday, 1 November, 7.30 pm, in the Sir Alex Fleming building, Imperial College, the room ajoining MDL1. We'll combine it with a 'show and tell'. I intend to bring along a hysterical bedside routine from TV series, 'The Singing Detective'.

Then, AJ is organising a trip to see 'When You Cure Me' at the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush on 22 November. Tickets are just £6 for students. A pre-theatre dinner is in the offing as well. E-mail AJ directly to put your name down.

We've realised that it is going to be a lot easier for students to come to the PCC if we have it at the beginning of the month rather than at the end when rotations are usually wrapping up and there are exams and such. So from next year, we'll be meeting on the first Thursday of every month rather than the last Tuesday. Please check the sidebar for dates and events.

The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off

On Sunday night I was watching Channel 4's '50 Greatest Documentaries' (fascinating - number one was 49up which I blogged a week or two ago) and whilst it stirred up interest in a number of films, it showed one in particular directly after the programme, called 'The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off'.

It tells the story of Jonny Kennedy, a 36 year old man trapped in the body of a boy whose skin detaches from his body with slight trauma, the increased skin turnover eventually giving rise to cancerous change. This condition is known as 'Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB)', and the film charts Jonny's last four months leading up to the send-off he is planning for himself. In the time remaining to him, Jonny promotes his charity Debra and we learn a little of what life is like for a sufferer of this condition.

The documentary is very saddening and raw at times, leading one to question how detached a documentary film-maker ought to be in such a scenario. What makes such a depressing topic so watchable is Jonny's cheeky sense of humour, and his nonchalant attitude towards death. But the film achieves its main aim of raising awareness of the condition, with over half a million pounds worth of donations having been received since the film was first aired in March 2004.

Artaid

A post on behalf on Anjali:

Crusaid’s fourth art exhibition, ARTAID 05, is to take place at the Royal College of Art on Thursday 13th October.

ARTAID 05 is a collection of personal statements on the global HIV and AIDS crisis which seeks to unravel the stigma and discrimination surrounding the virus and plays a critical part in raising awareness of HIV and AIDS.

New artists contributing include Michelle Prazak, Thierry Bal, Anne Urquhart and Richard Cuerden, who will appear alongside established artists such as Tracey Emin.

For more details and to reserve your place, call the events team on 020 7539 3896 during office hours or email artaid@crusaid.org.uk.

Surgical drawing

Don't miss the start of a major new arts series, Secret of Drawing, on BBC2 on Saturday, 20.10 to 21.10. The first episode includes a discussion with surgeon Frances Wells as he explores the link between drawing and surgery. Frances not only draws his own operations but is also an expert on Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings. Indeed, he has even used da Vinci’s drawing of the heart as the basis of a pioneering new form of surgery.

Battle lines are drawn

The Institute of Ideas, which likes to rattle cages, is hosting an event called 'The Battle of Ideas'. It takes place at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 on 29 - 30 October 2005.

There are six themes (Books, Community, Culture, Education, Health, International Relations), but the Battle for Health takes place on Sunday. One of the speakers in the debate on 'Ethics on Trial' includes our own Richard Ashcroft, Professor of Medical Ethics at Imperial. Other speakers include Ray Tallis, Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester, and Simon Crompton and Jane Clarke both of The Times.

Institute of Ideas' events are always a bit like R4's 'Start the Week' with bells and whistles. Well worth getting fired up about.

Bedside Stories - Review

What was obviously an addictive and amusing column makes an uneasy transition to paperback here in Michael Foxton's novel, a compilation of his writings during his two-year stint at the Guardian.

Foxton (a nom-de-plume) tells - with gory detail and sensational revelation - of the highs and lows of his life as a Junior Doctor, and his passage from first day as a PRHO, through his rotations (including A+E), culminating with his SHO post in Psychiatry.

Sceptics might claim Foxton tends towards the negative, but having set the standard it is usually difficult, especially in the media, for a leopard to change its spots. The negative side is always going to be the more interesting, the more passionate, and the easier to divulge.

Foxton is amusing, irreverent, pessimistic, bleak, yet insightful. He is unashamed to admit mistakes, which as a reader I found compelling. He is unafraid to lift the mystery surrounding the profession and yet still seems to retain a sense of right and wrong. As a medical student, I found myself relieved that others sometimes feel as bewildered and unconfident as I do - but also that eventually these disappear with experience and age.

Foxton will not appeal to all due to his opinionated nature, and some may feel the book is more of a rant than a story. Indeed 'Bedside Stories' seems an odd choice for a collection of columns that lack cohesion. Links become repetitive and similar points are expressed that make for awkward continuity between passages. At the end of the book, Foxton explains why he stops writing, but then we are presented with an extra column about Gunther Von Hagen's live dissection on TV which provides a clumsy conclusion to the book, which I felt shouldn't have been included, not being in keeping with the other segments.

Overall I enjoyed this book for its dark humour and for the cynical approach to the trade I am to join. I feel any doctor would likely enjoy the book for its 'we've all been there before' mentality, but nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals may feel Foxton arrogant and difficult to digest. I hope my career is not quite as exhausting and persecuting as his!

Humour Prescription

A man was hit by a sofa, a pillow and a cushion.

A hospital spokesman described his condition as "comfortable".

(courtesy of popbitch)