Undoctored — Adam Kay’s third book— follows on chronologically from his best-selling memoir This is Going to Hurt which was an unusual blend of bizarre humour and strongly-worded critique of the treatment of junior doctors in the British National Health Service.
Amid the hilarious anecdotes about patients (suitably anonymised), Kay described the brutal realities of a system driven to the ground by bureaucracy, top-heavy management and misguided political interventions.
By the end of that book, Kay had relinquished his medical career, burnt out by 90-hour working weeks and traumatised by a tragic incident when one of his patients lost her baby.
Undoctored: The Story of a Medic who Ran Out of Patients reveals what happened next but also takes us back in time to Kay’s experiences as a medical student.
Readers expecting this book to follow the same recipe as his first, will be in for a shock. Without his medical diaries to provide tales of the weird and wonderful medical emergencies he encountered in obstetrics, Kay’s tragicomic stories have to come from his own life.
His dark comedy has pace and zest and produces some genuinely funny moments — particularly when he’s dealing with his faltering first steps in a new career as a stand up comedian and script writer. Or when he relates the many times when he suffered his own medical emergencies — instead of seeking medical help he tried to soldier on, pretending that there was nothing untoward.
But you can sense that behind all the jokes there is sadness. What Undoctored deliversis a deeply personal, painfully honest reflection of the darkest moments in Kay’s life. Dealing with the PTSD triggered by his (misplaced) belief that he was responsible for that baby’s death. Coming out to his parents. His wife’s miscarriage. Separation and divorce. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Kay reveals how he struggled with loneliness when he started medical school, rescued only by the intervention of one member of staff.
Sometimes, the loneliest feelings of all don’t come from total isolation but from being on the edge of the cword, watching the rest of the world live its life, as if it’s happening on television and not three feet away from you in the canteen.
Confusion about his sexuality and feelings of insecurity about his body led to a severe eating disorder. Shockingly his drastic weight loss was never remarked upon by his tutors (bearing in mind they were medically trained) nor his flat mates even though he looked gaunt and weak.
More shockingly however was his revelation that he was raped while on a trip to a medical conference in New Zealand. He told no-one. Just got on the flight home and returned to work.
I couldn’t think of any other person I could confide in. Who could I trust to under-react, to hide their shock, or be sympathetic and non-judgemental?
Undoctored is a brave and heartfelt memoir from a man who has been through the mill. People watching him now in his one man act might not fully appreciate just how far he’s had to come to walk onto that stage.
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