The Keeper of the Stories

About the Book

In The Keeper of the Stories, I describe the devolution of the doctor-patient relationship through the lens of my career in medicine, showing how the value of intense listening, and a strong personal connection with patients, has been replaced by a system that treats doctors and patients as impersonal cogs in a vast medical machine designed to maximize profits for hospitals and insurance companies. Now, with no time to listen, doctors today are deprived of the subtle cues and relevant information that can be gathered about patients from hearing details of their life. Listening is especially important for patients who are elderly, infirm, or mentally ill—those marginalized and vulnerable to the impersonal forces of a health-care system that sees them as potential expenses, not human beings. In the book, I present some of these stories, gathered to illustrate the surprising ways personal narrative can inform a doctor’s treatment or simply unburden a patient of painful memories. The fascinating narratives describe a diverse range of experience from survivors of horrors like the Holocaust to witnesses to major events in history. They are a testament to the remarkable lives we all lead.

About the Author

Dr. Levin has practiced medicine in the Boston area for almost forty years, seventeen of which were spent as an associate director of the intensive care unit. He is an associate professor of clinical medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and has taught at Boston University and Harvard medical schools. His articles have appeared in Chest and the American Heart Journal. He has three grown children and a brand-new granddaughter, and he lives with his wife in Brookline.