A Country Doctor's Casebook: Tales from the North Woods

by MACDONALD ROGER ALLAN

• ISBN13: 9780873514309
• ISBN10: 0873514300
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Pr

Summary

In the years after the Second World War, a young doctor took up his post in one of the most remote regions of northern Minnesota. His term of service turned into a lifetime of caring for the people who made this isolated and often lonely place their home. The story of this remarkable adventure in frontline medicine forms the heart of this wonderful book.

For almost four decades, Roger MacDonald was the country doctor who tended to those in need in an area larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Because he was the only doctor for miles, MacDonald traveled to the small towns and remote fishing villages, the logging camps and Indian reservation, the one-room schools and the remote backwoods cabins to practice his craft. In the course of his work, he encountered a remarkable group of tough, independent, and idiosyncratic individuals -- all of whom relied on him for medical help. In turn, they taught MacDonald the importance of patience, human strength, wisdom, humor, and simple grace.

MacDonald came to know the people he cared for in extra

Author Biography

Roger A. MacDonald was formerly associate director of the Rural Physician Associate Program at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Roger Welsch
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	3	(4)
Justice in the Wild, Wild North	7	(2)
House Call	9	(6)
Emergency	15	(3)
We Work Not Alone	18	(3)
The Rez	21	(6)
Epidemic	27	(3)
To Speak the Language	30	(2)
Treatment	32	(3)
Brotherly Love	35	(2)
Road to Trouble	37	(3)
Arne	40	(2)
Pass Catcher	42	(2)
Little Herbie	44	(2)
Emil	46	(4)
The Great Train Ride	50	(3)
Grit	53	(4)
Fishing	57	(2)
Physician, Heal Thyself. Please!	59	(4)
Feud	63	(2)
Good Fudge Requires the Best Ingredients	65	(2)
Home Delivery	67	(4)
Henry and Lily	71	(3)
The T. Rex of Throat Infections	74	(2)
They Don't Grow 'Em Like They Used To	76	(3)
Debbie	79	(3)
Cora Benson	82	(4)
Home Is Home Is Home	86	(3)
God's Will	89	(3)
Rena McDoud	92	(4)
So, What Is Mental Illness?	96	(2)
Helen	98	(4)
Pudge Dalafus	102	(5)
Office Hours	107	(5)
Midge	112	(5)
Curbstone Consultations	117	(3)
Anne	120	(2)
Thor	122	(4)
Double Play	126	(3)
Roxie	129	(4)
Coroner	133	(4)
Coincidence	137	(3)
Cops and Robbers	140	(4)
Inheritance	144	(4)
Frank Petruka	148	(3)
May Day, May Day	151	(6)
Help	157	(4)
Is There a Limit?	161	(3)
Consultation	164	(2)
Bryan Lofgren	166	(4)
Appendicitis	170	(5)
Oskar Jonason	175	(2)
Poachers, Arise!	177	(4)
Special Delivery	181	(3)
God Calling	184	(3)
Are Country Doctors Born, Not Made?	187