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A review by imaginethehours
Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor, and Joy by Patch Adams, Maureen Mylander
3.0
I liked his idealism in the book and several of his ideas about totally not just reforming, but changing, the healthcare system. I have to say though, even being an idealist myself, I found myself questioning his vision's practicality in the real world, particularly not charging for medical care but not giving much of any idea how to actually fund it then, except hoping random people will keep contributing.
I was glad to get insight into this real man and what he actually carried out, beyond seeing the movie years ago. I would like to now read up on what he did since the book was published, and if there is still a Gesundheit Institute in place, and if others have followed his lead. It's the kind of ideas I would LOVE to see taken to heart and incorporated into the current state of medical affairs, but not only done by a few who take that giant leap to go all the way with it. He makes mention of this in his book, that doctors and hospitals can take bits of it to work with, but he doesn't pose ways to actually do so. I would have liked to see more of that discussed, rather than a continuous reiteration of the premise and moving slightly back and forth in time on how their operations were going over and over. I feel the book would have been better served by being more chronological, and it got quite repetitive. I liked it best earlier on before I'd read the same thing expressed in slightly different ways repeatedly. However, it was a quick, easy, and overall interesting read.
I was glad to get insight into this real man and what he actually carried out, beyond seeing the movie years ago. I would like to now read up on what he did since the book was published, and if there is still a Gesundheit Institute in place, and if others have followed his lead. It's the kind of ideas I would LOVE to see taken to heart and incorporated into the current state of medical affairs, but not only done by a few who take that giant leap to go all the way with it. He makes mention of this in his book, that doctors and hospitals can take bits of it to work with, but he doesn't pose ways to actually do so. I would have liked to see more of that discussed, rather than a continuous reiteration of the premise and moving slightly back and forth in time on how their operations were going over and over. I feel the book would have been better served by being more chronological, and it got quite repetitive. I liked it best earlier on before I'd read the same thing expressed in slightly different ways repeatedly. However, it was a quick, easy, and overall interesting read.