"Scott's book says it all. What I've Learned from You can teach us all to learn from one another."
"It is gratifying to see another doctor in the field exploring the treasures of the doctor-patient relationship. There is no moment that more quickly sets aside our inhibitions and moves into the deeper aspect of human behaviors than these serious conversations with mortality. Dr. Scott Kelly explores the silence between words as he applies a sensitive eye to the emotional and spiritual currents that run underneath the interactions in the broad theatre of sickness and healing. A good read."
"A terrific book by a wonderful doctor!"
Dr. Scott A. Kelly to host book signing for What I’ve Learned from You.
Based primarily on journals he kept as a medical student and resident, Resurgens’ Dr. Scott A. Kelly has authored a heart-felt memoir that he hopes will help to redefine the relationship between doctors and their patients by bringing compassion back to medicine.
In What I’ve Learned from You, Kelly weaves vignettes of lessons that he absorbed from his patients when he was a young, impressionable doctor with personal anecdotes about what he was experiencing at that particular moment in his life. Together, they form a poignant narrative. He began keeping the journals, he recalls, at a time when he questioned whether his decision to become a doctor was the right one. After looking out the window and watching an exuberant young boy play with a ball, Kelly “wondered what happened to the little boy in me.” Kelly’s journals became his therapy and in doing so, he writes, “My patients had become my teachers.”
“What I’ve Learned from You is the story of human experience,” Kelly writes in the introduction. “It is the story of love and pain and healing and sickness and birth and death and all of the beautiful things in between.”
The book, which launched on March 27, has received a glowing reception from Kelly’s peers. Via Twitter, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta called it a “terrific book by a wonderful doctor!” in a post to his 1.96 million followers. The foreword is penned by acclaimed medical writer Dr. Bernie Siegel, who wrote, “Scott’s book says it all… The practice of medicine needs to be about people… What I’ve Learned from You can teach us all to learn from one another.”
Resurgens Co-President Dr. Douglas W. Lundy also praised the book.
“Scott’s book is a treasure to the medical community and it should be required reading for every medical student,” Lundy said. “His stories struck a chord with me, as I have had similar touching experiences to what Scott has written about during my professional career.”
Kelly will host a book signing on Thursday, April 30, at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Buckhead located at 2900 Peachtree Road, NW, Suite No. 310. The store is in the Peach Shopping Center.
Kelly was inspired to write the book in 2006 when he was searching through his attic and rediscovered the journals, which he first began keeping more than 20 years ago. Originally, he thought he would turn them into a book for his children. Then he realized the stories might have wider appeal.
While he said certain stories have held greater meaning to him at various points in his life, he cited several among his favorites. (In some cases, Kelly altered the names, gender or facts of the patients’ stories to protect the privacy of their identities.)
In one, the story of “Mary,” an aging breast cancer patient, he asked what her secret was to a successful marriage. “’When in doubt as to what to say – just listen,’” Mary told Kelly, along with the advice to “’Fight less and love more.’”
“To me,” Kelly wrote, “these words transcend marriage.”
The book contains countless other pearls of wisdom that readers will find relevant irrespective of their walk of life.
Kelly also is the founder of the Art Heals Media Foundation, which donates art to hospitals in order to lift the spirits of patients. Kelly said 10 percent of the proceeds from the book will go to the foundation.
Dr. Scott A. Kelly received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and completed his residency at the Emory University Residency Training Program in Atlanta. Dr. Kelly’s areas of expertise include physical medicine and rehabilitation, non-operative spine care, spinal injections and electrodiagnostic medicine. He is Co-Medical Director of Resurgens Spine Center.
Resurgens Orthopaedics, Georgia’s largest orthopaedic practice, has 21 offices and six surgery centers throughout metro Atlanta. With 97 physicians, Resurgens provides specialized expertise and broad experience in the areas of sports medicine, joint replacement, neck and back surgery, foot and ankle surgery, shoulder and elbow surgery, non-operative spine care, hand surgery, arthroscopic surgery, epidural steroid injection, general orthopaedics and trauma care. Resurgens provides comprehensive musculoskeletal care in a single location, from injury diagnosis and treatment to rehabilitation services. Learn more at www.resurgens.com.
