Famous Doctors and Famous Patients

Book excerpt: Famous Doctors and Famous Patients: Lives in Jeopardy? examines well-known doctors who treated celebrities and describes the successes and failures of patients’ treatments. Featuring well-known public figures such as Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote, Cecil B. DeMille, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Billy Wilder, Tennessee Williams, Dan Aykroyd, Johnny Depp, Cary Grant, and Susan Sarandon—descriptions of each patient show the impact of treatment on patients’ lives, for better or worse. Often the mind-altering chemicals that promised patients’ relief imposed problems instead. In documenting and consolidating prominent historical medical case studies, Famous Doctors and Famous Patients enables readers to make better choices for their own medical care.