Having worked for the NHS for fifteen years, I too have patients who I recall for a variety of different reasons.

This book is broken up into small chunks allowing health professionals highlight that one patient who touched their lives and made them think/react differently in the future.

This opened my eyes to how doctors all over the world are shaped into who they are, some of these stories truly broke m heart, the feeling of hopelessness of being unable to save someone but every encounter teaches you a lesson is what I took away from this book. That just because people are trained to know what to do or know how they should act does not mean that it will always go that way.

I could not put this book down, I loved it so much! Would highly recommend it to everyone!!

For every doctor there is that one patient, whose story touches them in a way they didn’t expect, changing their entire outlook on life. This inspiring and deeply moving book is the story of those patients.

As a nurse who has worked in emergency care, palliative care, and now intensive care, the storyline resonated well with me. The book contains small chapters that are the experiences of health care professionals with a very memorable patient who has changed the way that they practised medicine for the rest of their life.

It contains moments that make you laugh, moments that make you cry but overall leaves you with a heartwarming feeling. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

i found this so fascinating, getting an insight into the different medical professions and the type of patients that they get. i loved the format of this book; short but detailed stories on each patient. i much prefer it to other books i’ve read where it’s ended up being an essay of a story with a lot of unnecessary detail. it was informative, thought provoking, inspiring and emotional.

thank you to netgalley and 4th estate books / harper collins uk for the advanced copy of this book.

This was a very thought provoking and often sad collection of viewpoints from some widely varied medical professionals. The stories they tell are honest and authentic. Not a happy read at times, but always interesting and eye-opening..

This book was a very quick and interesting read. Each small chapter was written by a health care professional (often doctor), relating their experience with a very memorable patient (and/or the patient’s family), who changed the way that they practised medicine for the rest of their life.
The patients were of all ages – from pre-term babies to elderly, at the beginning and ends of their lives, and at significant changes in their lives. Some stories were of miraculous survival against all odds, some of helplessness in the face of inexorable disease progression, some of luck, some of narrowly averted disaster, of missed diagnoses, and many of resilience in the face of adversity.
Main themes of the book are that the medical professions do not know everything; that the protocols of treatment are guidelines, and should not be applied without thinking; that the patient often knows what is best for them, and that they should always be listened to; but that also sometimes the health care professional should go with their intuition.
Many of the stories are from the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal (given certain protocols and checks). For many situations there is always another treatment that could be tried, always some scintilla of hope. But, one should always consider whether the treatment will prolong the patient’s life, or just put off their death. Will the extra moments of life gained be worth living? Only the patient knows. What is acceptable for one person, may be intolerable for another. If euthanasia is an option, how can/should the health care professional approach it? Or is it sometimes right, just to stop treatment and let nature take its course? What does the patient want/need from life? And what can be done to make a patient’s exit from the world easier to bear for the patient and for their loved ones (a last-minute wedding, sight of a new born relative …)
There are also some stories about when the healthcare professionals became patients themselves – and what they learned by being on the other side of the fence.
All of the stories are affecting, but one of the stories that touched me the most, was that of a little girl with substantial cranial and facial abnormalities, that were ‘fixed’ through multiple arduous operations, and every one telling her how beautiful she now looked. But the child could no longer recognise herself in the mirror, and people would treat her so differently, now she looked ‘acceptable’.
“Although she was precisely the same girl, people around her had become instantly friendlier and more enthusiastic. … the world also believed she was more intelligent. Katie knew it a felt deeply distressed.”

Now the plastic surgeon will not tell children that they will look better after the surgery, but that they will be able to breathe, eat, get around … more easily.
“We explain that they will look very different afterwards and ask: how do you feel about that?”

As you might expect, I did not recognise any of the health care professionals or patients – with one exception: Anthony Fauci, immunologist. His story was about treating a volunteer doctor who had contracted Ebola, while tending to patients in Sierra Leone.
“I couldn’t justify asking my staff to put themselves in danger, providing round-the-clock care for an extremely infectious patient, without doing the same thing myself.”

The patient survived, and the staff learned so much about how to treat Ebola from treating him. Once the patient had left hospital, he wrote to Dr Fauci to say how much he had looked forward to his visits and conversations, and that he felt Dr Fauci had treated him “like a person, not a disease”.
Like so many people around the world, I have seen Dr Fauci daily on the TV throughout the COVID crisis. I have always admired him, but this story just underlines how incredibly suited he is to guiding USA through these difficult times. He knows from personal experience the stresses and strains on medical staff, the necessity of learning new approaches to treatments, and the importance of seeing every patient as an individual – not a case or an experiment.
Near the end of the book are two stories relating to COVID: the most touching about the anonymity of the patients and the staff
“Their eyes are all I can remember, wide-open eyes reflecting their fear of what was to come. I saw them gasping for breath, surrounded by complete strangers dressed in spacesuits, uttering words they could not understand from behind plexiglas visors. … We could offer no more than mechanical treatments, which left me feeling extremely powerless and distanced. … We could do nothing to allay their fears or ease their loneliness. All we could do was promise to take good care of them.”

I really enjoyed reading this book – both as a former medical herbalist practitioner, and as a current long-term patient – and would recommend it to anyone who has extended contact with the medical profession, but especially to those working in health care. There are lessons that everyone can learn here, not just the writers.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced by either the author nor by the publisher.

A collection of stories from the perspective of the medical professionals. Stories range from life lessons, stories of courage in the face of a terminal diagnosis and of loss and survival.
Of particular interest to me were the euthanasia sections. The author first published in the Netherlands where euthanasia is a legal practice. It was an interesting perspective that this is one more service a medical professional can offer, a pain free death where a patient has a terminal illness. It gives control back to the patient.
Fascinating.

Moving, fascinating, and frustrating, That One Patient is an insight into the lives and livelihoods of medical professionals, all sharing stories of the patient who changed their outlook on their job forever. It's easy to think of medical care from the patient's side of things, viewing the doctor as the person who comes in to make things better and then leaves, and so we tend to forget that doctors can be affected by their work — but these GPs, gynaecologists, and gastroenterologists alike open up and bring in a real compassionate human perspective.

Some of the stories here have happy endings where people recover against insurmountable odds or go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives, and others remind you of just how fragile life is: often, a patient appears to be doing well but then goes downhill, and even though it's in our nature to crave answers, sometimes there just aren't any. Some stories show doctors making mistakes that haunt them decades later, some have them changing their attitudes on how healthcare ought to be given, and some deal with euthanasia, which felt rather strange for me to read as a Brit (where euthanasia isn't legal), but I think reading this collection has really opened my mind and changed my view.

All in all, this was a very humbling, life-affirming read that shows us that not only are our doctors and nurses gifts, but so too are the days we spend on this earth.

This is a fascinating insight into the lives and work of a range of medical professionals, each sharing the story of one patient.

Especially in the current global situation, I think it is so important that the people looking after us at our most vulnerable, have the opportunity to reflect and share their personal responses and feelings, to situations where they will have had to remain professional.

Living in the UK, I know how fortunate I am that whatever health need I or my family may have, there will be a dedicated, qualified person who will do their best to help, despite any experiences they may have had, trauma they have witnessed or the pressures put on them. This book allows people to share their experiences as people as well as medical professionals.

A quick read, full of anecdotes of how clinicians are affected by their patients and one which I found joyful to read.

As a nurse I identified with so many of the reflections published here, although it does concern me that so many Doctors had to have ‘that one patient’ before the realised medicine was about more than treating illness. In nursing practice empathy and compassion are the cornerstones of care with diagnostics and treatment part of the care delivered. It would be wonderful if more Dr’s recognised the importance of treating the patient not the illness and I hope those who haven’t discovered that yet should absolutely read this book.

Very interesting accounts of patients that have shaped doctor's lives. In some cases, their impact has redefined areas of medicine.
The story shared by Dame Sally Davies was brilliant and showed how one person can have such an impact.
Since the book covers various countries, there are quite a few stories about euthanasia which really makes you stop and think about your own opinions on the subject.

A really lovely premise - a collection of stories told by healthcare professionals about the one patient who has made an impression.

I found the stories too short and a little clunky, and struggled to finish. Maybe a translation issue?

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

That one patient is centred around medical professionals encounters with patients who stick in their memory for one reason or another.
At times I found this incredibly difficult to read. Although the stories were fascinating, they were quite hard-hitting and this is not an uplifting book. The stories are true accounts and often leave the reader in a sombre mood.

Nevertheless, the book is eye-opening and it shows you that medical professionals are not infallible and are humans.

As a profession we assume that some emotional detachment is necessary to do the work day in day out. This book shows how some patients will have a profound effect on the medical professionals caring for them. An insightful read.

It’s not my usual sort of read, I don’t like to be forced to read about challenging or unhappy things- books are escapism for me. But I wanted to try, and I admit this book was eye opening, it’s not my favourite read, and a lot of it was hard to process, to believe, to read. But overall, the book had me learn a lot about doctors and the process they take day in day out and what effects it has on them.

That One Patient is a very easy and engaging read, peppered with capitivating, heart-breaking, inspiring, and sometimes downright disturbing real life stories. It was definitely one of my most worthwhile reads this year.

To start with what I didn't like, and why I dropped one star - it was almost entirely due to the subject of euthanasia and the assisted suicide of depressed people. Being from Britain (where euthanasia is not legal) and also strongly believing in not opening that grey, murky door of euthanasia, I found the topic being casually discussed very off-putting. Everyone is welcome to their views, and this is mine. I just found it extremely disturbing. That being said, Visser has been very unbiased in the stories she has picked out, and there are many stories regarding people being saved even when all hope was lost.

As for what I did like, there are too many things to mention, but the inspirational insights were a much welcome breath of fresh air. Below are some of my favourite quotes:

Most doctors have a sort of internal graveyard of patients they've
lost. It's like a constant weight that we carry around with us. As
doctors we must try to learn from every death that occurs, even
if no mistakes were made.
- Karim Brohi

Newcomers to the profession often believe they can transtorm
the lives of the sick; that treatments, pills and operations can make
a difference and that your actions matter. But eventually the real-
isation will come that youre not all-powerful, that you cant just
dictate the course of events, that you are helpless sometimes. With
that first boy we did all we could, though it all seemed pointless,
and he survived. With the second we worked just as hard but saw
the opposite outcome. Thats the reality that doctors face. We have
all this technical whiz-bangery to help patients, and it can certainly
get us a long way. But the reality is that sometimes life holds on
unexpectedly, while other times it slips through our fingers. It's
points in that regard. Ihose boys put me in my place, proving to
impossible to know where the chips will fall.
New doctors need to realise that medicine only has limited
power over life. These two children have served as my reference
me that God has the final say over life and death and that we
should be humble about the potential contribution we can make.
- Kors van der Ent

Overall, this was a very pleasant, insightful read and I do recommend it.

Doctors and other healthcare professionals recall patients who have stuck with them and often changed the whole way they practise medicine.
This is a Dutch book but the lessons are universal and often touching.
Doctors reveal above all their humility and how they were convinced they were right only to find that the patient had much to teach them.
A story that stuck with me was that of a young girl who had attempted suicide and was gravely ill. The doctor was minded to withdraw treatment - somewhat judgemental about the value of heroic measures for someone who didn’t want to live. But when she came round, it appeared that she hadn’t attempted suicide at all, throwing the doctor’s views into disarray...
This is a dense book: sometimes reading from story to story feels somewhat relentless and almost disrespectful of savouring each patient’s story. It took me a few weeks to read - a lot longer than I might normally spend on a similar book,
I did find it really remarkable: it taught me, as it did the doctors concerned, that medicine is about so much more than treatment and that true help can be in listening and doing less rather than more.
A quick note: euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands and therefore some of the doctors have, and exercise, this option for their patients.

This was a wonderful insightful look at what Drs.feel their emotions working with patients.Sad eye opening really enjoyed seeing the real emotions Drs.Go through,rReally enjoyed.#netgalley #4thesratebooks,

I have immersed myself in a number of medical biographies recently- those of GPS, nurses and consultants ..This year has been so dominated by all things health and so much has depended on the work of these amazing professionals that I have wanted to understand better what goes on and what they do. This book is very different from my previous reads - it is a collection of reflections rather than a single account and it almost entirely contains case studies from the Netherlands. What also makes it different is that Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands and several of the cases involve consideration of this option. The book collects together stories from medical professionals reflecting on a patient that changed their outlook on life. The patients are diverse - children, elderly; their condition/ diagnosis is varied- cancer, AIDS, Ebola. These reflections which were sent in to a Dutch newspaper feature a wide range of medical professionals- Speech Therapists, Paediatricians, Oncologists.. Each piece is short and follows a similar format - case study then reflection. They are illuminating, humbling, inspiring, at times humorous, at times utterly devastating, full of lessons for life. This was an incredible read -all of life is here and what we see is how much can be overcome, how much experience and reflection are used to secure change whether personal or medically. Lessons to live life fully, to listen and empathise, lessons in courage and determination. It’s a wonderful read - remarkable both for the case studies and what they demonstrate about individuals and families and for what it has taught the medics and how it changed their thinking. With thanks to Netgalley, 4th Estate and William Collins for a digital copy of this amazing book.

TW: death, cancer, euthanasia, death of children, discussion of abortion in the case of disability

I definitely liked the concept of this book; columns by different professionals in the medical world talking about an experience that shaped them. This was originally done as weekly columns and I think that really comes across in the book; the columns feel really short and so it was sometimes hard to connect to the stories that were being told as they sometimes feel very sudden endings. I'm not sure if there was something lost in translation with this one because whilst some of the columns really touched me, others not so much.

Some of the comments made by the professionals honestly made me a little uncomfortable which definitely impacted my enjoyment of the book as a whole. There also didn't seem to be any ending from the author; normally there's some sort of wrap-up conclusion by the author but there wasn't one in this book so it felt like a very sudden ending.

Overall a strong read but some parts of the columns made me a little uncomfortable. Many thanks to NetGalley for approving me for the eARC.