Bitter Medicine, A Doctor's Year in Vietnam

, “Bitter Medicine,” recalls a disturbing time of great contention and bitterness. But it is a personal story. It is the story of leaving my family, my perspective of the Vietnamese culture, the politics, and combat seen as a young physician. I earned my “street cred” as an army doc during the Vietnam War. As with the other physicians called into service, I was the unlikely soldier. My book is poignant and often humorous. We needed the humor to survive. I would never have volunteered for such a traumatic experience, yet I can’t say, “I wish I’d never gone to Vietnam.” I believe this experience had a major positive effect on molding me into who I am today. In the words of a Special Forces soldier, he described this sentiments accurately; “I wouldn’t go back to Vietnam for a million dollars. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have given up the experience for a million dollars.”