medicine cabinets
medicine in translation journeys with my patients
for two decades dr. danielle ofri has cared for patients at bellevue the oldest public hospital in the country and a crossroads for the worlds cultures . in medicine in translation she introduces us in vivid moving portraits to the patients she has known . they have braved language barriers religious and racial divides and the emotional and practical difficulties of exile in order to access quality health care . sharing their journeys with them over the years danielle has witnessed some of their best and worst moments and come to admire their resilience and courageous spirit . br danielle introduces us to her patients samuel nwanko who was brutally attacked by a nigerian cult in his homeland and is attempting to create a new life in america ; jade collier an aussie who refuses to let a small thing like a wheelchair keep her from being a homegrown ambassador to new york city ; julia barquero a guatemalan woman who migrated to the states to save her disabled son but can not obtain the lifesaving heart transplant she needs because she is undocumented . we meet a young muslim woman threatened at knifepoint for wearing her veil and the spitfire senora estrella one of danielles many spanish speaking patients whose torrent of words helps seal danielles resolve to improve her own spanish an essential skill in todays urban hospitals . and so she her husband and their two young children and seventy five pound dog relocate to costa rica where they discover potholes the size of their new york city apartment a casual absence of street signs or even street names tangy green skinned limon dulce dangling in the playground and sudden rains surging over the craggy edges of roadside ditches . ultimately danielle experiences being a patient in a foreign country when she gives birth to their third child a costarricense girl . br with controversy over immigrants in our society escalating and debate surrounding health care reform becoming increasingly urgent ofris riveting stories about her patients could not be more timely . living and dying in the foreign country we call home they have much to teach us about the american way in sickness and in health .
a doctor combines a personal narrative and reflections on her life and on the challenges facing immigrants and americans in the united states health care system .