Product Description

The Junior Doctor is back!

He's into his 2nd year of medicine, but this time Max is out of the wards and onto the streets, working for the Phoenix Outreach Project.

Fuelled by tea and more enthusiasm than experience, he attempts to locate and treat a wide and colourful range of patients that somehow his first year on the wards didn't prepare him for . . . from Molly the 80-year-old drugs mule, God in a Tesco car park, to middle-class mums addicted to appearances and pain killers in equal measure.

His friends don't approve of the turn his career is taking, his mother is worried and the public spit at him, but Max is determined to make a difference. Warned that miracles are rare and that not everyone's life can be turned around, those who can be saved will surprise him.

Funny, touching, uplifting and wise, Max goes from innocence to experience via dustbin-shopping-trips without ever losing his humanity. (20080217)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3775 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
Praise for TRUST ME I'M A JUNIOR DOCTOR (- )

'Reads like Scrubs: The Blog... This diary-style account of Pemberton's first year on the wards is funny and awful in equal measure' (Observer )

'Very funny and frank' (Independent )

'Painfully funny' (Boris Johnson )

'Reading his absurdly funny, beautifully observed, day to day, horror stories from the wards, made me laugh and shudder' (Maureen Lipman )

About the Author
Max Pemberton is a practicing doctor. As well as a degree in Medicine, he completed a degree in Anthropology for which he was awarded a first and a prize for academic excellence. Max has worked in a broad range of medicine from A&E, geriatrics, adult psychiatry, surgery and paediatric palliative care. He is also a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and Reader's Digest. (20080217)

Customer Reviews

Insider's view of outreach services
Max Pemberton decided he wanted to see what it was like working with the homeless and with drug addicts - the people polite society usually prefers to ignore. During his time working for the Phoenix Outreach Project he comes across some unforgettable characters. Molly the 80 year old former working girl and drug addict; Barry the schizophrenic who saves his life in a sticky situation; Janice the middle class housewife addicted to over the counter painkillers and Fergus and Anthony referred to him by the courts and determined to get off drugs and start new lives.

Written in an approachable style, this is a book you will remember long after you've read the final page. It shows that there is no single answer to drug addiction and homelessness because the reasons why people get into these situations are as individual as they are. Not all homeless people are drug addicts and not all drug addicts are homeless though many have mental illnesses.

I found this book a real eye opener and it has made me change what I thought were fixed opinions about these social issues. What struck me as much as anything was the way people remembered the author and were pleased to see him if they bumped into him in the street. The homeless are human beings too.

Heart-warming and illuminating
I loved the first book 'Trust me I'm a Junior Doctor' but thought this one was even better. It still has the same humour and pathos but the characters and stories that the writer uses to address issues of drug-addiction and homelessness really bring his experiences to life and makes you look at the the world in a new light. It's the kind of book that stays with you - and makes you think, laugh out loud and feel sympathetic towards the plights of others all at the same time. I thoroughly recommend it.

A CRACKING GOOD READ!
Ever walked past people lying in the streets? Bedded down in cardboard boxes? Holed up in shop doorways? Ignored their polite plea for "a bit of change"? Avoided eye contact with drunks and crack heads? Passed them off as the detritus of the city?
Max Pemberton didn't. He went looking for them - crack-heads, bums, drug addicts, down and outs, prostitutes, the mentally ill and drunks. Undaunted, our doughty Doctor takes on the mantle of a medical Knight - not in shining armour and on a white charger - but unshaven, in ripped jeans, trainers and dirty T-shirt and on foot - in an attempt to save and treat damsels and others who are in distress. Snag is - many of them don't always want to be "saved"!

In his new book, he takes us to the seedier, bizarre side of the City, the murky shadow lands of humanity, which are but a stone's throw away from posh restaurants, dazzling shops and theatres.
He recounts extraordinary tales of his adventures with the patients and staff with whom he works at the Phoenix Outreach Project.
There are glimmers of "Stuart: A Life Backwards" by Alexander Masters as Max puzzles over the how and why of homelessness and the tenuous threads that bind these people together.

At times, I found it hard to appreciate that this book is not fiction. I also found myself wondering how I would cope in his shoes. Not half as well as he does.

"Where Does it Hurt" should be re-titled, "There By the Grace of God Go We". It is written with compassion, maturity, respect and humour. It is humbling, eye opening, questioning, extraordinary, uncomfortable and wise. It is intensely readable and educational. The characters are painted with clarity and remained in my mind, long after I finished reading.

It is a tribute and salutation to the altruistic and philanthropic work of all the people who work in this field.

If you'll pardon the pun, a cracking good read!