Telling Silences ― A Doctor's Tales of Denial

A bereaved widow seeks closure by accusing her departed husband’s physician. A doctor refuses to see what his own symptoms are telling him. A young woman risks amputation because she cannot face the emotional root of her affliction. Sometimes, the most threatening ailments patients endure spring from their own perilous denial. In short, what patients don’t tell their physician is as important as what they do. In his fifty-plus years as a physician, Hillel Halkin has encountered confounding cases in which denial wields a damning blow to the health of the patient. Telling Silences: A Doctor’s Tales of Denial is his collection of clinical stories that reveal how information suppressed by patients, loved ones, and even physicians can work to severely compound a condition. Using authoritative yet friendly and accessible layman’s language, the author’s deep compassion and intuition shine brightly throughout the manuscript, bringing a warm, human touch to these medical tales. Silenced by the painful realities or threatening implications of illness, some individuals create dangerous barriers that can seriously compromise diagnosis or treatment. Anyone fascinated by psychology, medicine, or the complexity of human interactions will be utterly engrossed in this probing reflection of the hand we play in our own health. Hillel Halkin is Professor Emeritus of medicine and clinical pharmacology at Tel Aviv University School of Medicine. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, he is a graduate of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem and did his post graduate training at the University of California Medical Centre in San Francisco.