Everything But The Medicine

Lucy O’Hagan’s 'Everything but the Medicine' is an engaging text that makes the reader reflect on what genuine healing looks like for doctors and their patients.

From the moment I read the first chapter, I was hooked by O’Hagan’s warm, witty, and easy-to-relate-to voice. I loved the way she describes meeting her husband and starting their first practice. O’Hagan practiced medicine in New Zealand for 30 odd years, and drawing on her vast experience, she crafts a patchwork of stories that explore life, death, identity, burnout, as well as the relationships that shape a medical practice and just life in general.

The book is structured into four sections—Patient, System, Doctor, and Story—each of which offers a different lens from vivid slices of life drawn from thousands of encounters, reminding readers that behind every clinical case is a person with a story to exposing inequities within Aotearoa’s healthcare system.

O’Hagan also openly talks about her professional journey, giving a courageous and honest account of her experience with burnout. Even though O’Hagan is a doctor, young and old can relate to the stories, the warmth and the things that shape our everyday interactions. Although based in New Zealand and showcasing our biculturalism, the themes are universal: compassion, resilience, connections, and the importance of community.

Senior Secondary students would love this text because it provides rich opportunities to analyse narrative voice, purpose, and the persuasive power of personal evidence. O’Hagan’s honesty and empathy are a role model for all of us in a world where we are losing connections because of social media and the internet.