Samuel Shem Quotes

At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure is to take your own pulse

There is no body cavity that cannot be reached with a number fourteen needle and a good strong arm.

The delivery of medical care is to do as much nothing as possible.

The patient is the one with the disease

I make my patients feel like they're still part of life, part of some grand nutty scheme instead of alone with their diseases. With me, they still feel part of the human race.

Yes, last year in interviewing. Empathy is when you repeat the last three words the patient says and nod your head.

Only write if you can't not.

A BMS hears hoofbeats outside his window, the first thing he thinks of is a zebra

Gomers are human beings who have lost what goes into being human beings. They want to die, and we will not let them.

To do nothing for the gomers was to do something, and the more conscientiously I did nothing the better they got.

It ain't easy to do nothing, now that society is telling everyone that their body is fundamentally flawed and about to self-destruct. People are afraid they're on the verge of death all the time