Night Calls: The Personal Journey of an Ob/Gyn

In recounting how he evolved from a position of God-like dominance over patients to one of encouraging partnerespecially in birthingSyracuse, N.Y., obstetrician-gynecologist Eisenberg, with the assistance of his brother and sister-in-law, is disarmingly frank about his clinical errors and callous attitudes during residencies at Yale and Air Force hospitals. He was shocked into changing his relationships with women patients when his wife of many years threatened to leave him unless he treated her not only as a spouse and mother, but as a person in her own right. In accord with the self-care movement and consumer revolution, and as a result of Eisenberg's more open attitude, patients now seek his counsel on sexual and family matters, according to the authors. His more flexible, humanistic practices attempt to accommodate women's preferences and fathers' participation in deliveries. A winning chronicle about a physician whose sense of wonder has survived despite experience, technology and law suits. First serial to New York Times Magazine, Cosmopolitan and the Star. (August 26)