Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Medical Truants

  • Somerset Maugham

    JMS Pearce Hull, England I have two professions, not one. Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress; when I get tired of one I spend the night with the other.—Anton Chekov, 1888 As a graduate who abandoned medicine in favor of writing and other careers ranging from poetry to piracy, Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)…

  • Lord Moynihan and his Truants

    Medicine is a jealous mistress, demanding to the extreme, and he who strays too far from her is often regarded with suspicion by colleagues and patients. How can he be a good doctor if he spends so much time writing books, singing, playing football, or politics? But how much more awful if after embracing medicine…