Dr. Boone on how being a writer helped her as a urologist

In this video, urologist and author Martha Boone, MD, shares how her career as a writer has informed her career as a urologist. Boone is the author of the new book, “The Unfettered Urologist.”

Transcription:

I think any time that a doctor and particularly, a surgeon, can devote time to thinking about human nature, which is what writing novels requires, [is beneficial]. I think doctors have a lot of information that can be used in writing books because people sit with us and tell us their most intimate concerns, and we have constant conversations with people. So there's constant dialogue flowing through our days. We have intimacy with people that few professions give because books do tell us all kinds of things about their habits and their lives. And when you're a doctor, you can see the most common person transformed into greatness when they get a difficult diagnosis. You can see the same thing in their families. They will pull out strength and energy that they did not know that they had. It's almost like a magic trick. So I think that the world of medicine lends itself to all kinds of stories, as we've seen in things like "M*A*S*H" and other TV medical stories that folks love. But as far as using writing to help me as a doctor, I think that in trying to put down into words what people have told me, I've been more compassionate; I've been able to understand their feelings because I think about them and try to put them into words.
This transcription was edited for clarity.