William Osler: A Life in Medicine by Michael Bliss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This hagiography is the account of the life of William Osler who has been put on a pedestal by his acolytes on par with Christ and Shakespeare. He learnt and practised medicine during the sanguineous period of blood-letting (His father nearly died as a result of enthusiastic leeching prescribed during a bout of pneumonia).
Bacteriology came into existence, X-Rays were discovered during his lifetime. He died before the antibiotic era – succumbing to multiple lung abscesses that resulted from pleural effusion, in turn a consequence of pneumonia. His only succour was morphine – he avidly prescribed opioids himself.
He misdiagnosed often (but boldly admitted his shortcomings), did not innovate or make original discovery. Yet he will forever be remembered for the basic clinical principles of history taking, observing and examining the patient closely in order to establish a diagnosis or rather at a set of differential diagnoses.


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