Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – Dr. Renato Severino is an elderly chief surgeon approaching retirement, worn out by a life spent in hospitals and a healthcare system in which administrative and economic demands seem to have gradually taken precedence over the centrality of the patient. One day, Severino returns home exhausted after yet another day of conflict and frustration.
The postponement of a surgical procedure, the protests of his family, the lack of resources, and the confrontation with a general management forced to think in terms of cuts, budgets, and reorganizations, give him a picture of a fragile health service, in which both those providing care and those receiving care are at risk of being overwhelmed. Renato falls asleep on the couch and falls into a distressing dream.
In the dream, he suddenly finds himself on the other side: he is no longer the authoritative head physician, accustomed to making decisions and being recognized, but an unknown patient, immobile and unable to communicate. He is admitted to the very hospital where he once worked, but no one recognizes him. For the medical staff, he is simply the patient in bed number 51. This is the "sliding door" experienced by Renato Severino, the protagonist of the novel "Not Only a Doctor" (Edizioni Progetto Cultura) by surgeon Paolo Sardelli, which will be released on October 24th. All royalties from this novel will be donated to Doctors Without Borders, with a presentation in Rome.
'Not Just a Doctor' is not just a novel about the critical issues of the National Health Service. The healthcare crisis is the concrete place where a more universal question manifests itself: what happens to a person when the system, the role, and the perspectives of others cease to recognize them? The book recounts three broken promises—a truly patient-centered healthcare system, a surgical school capable of training, and a professional system based on merit—but above all, it recounts the attempt to mend a wounded identity. To the disintegration of the self caused by invisibility, Renato counters memory, affection, dignity, spirituality, and the possibility of change. The final message is not a renunciation of medicine, nor an indiscriminate condemnation of the healthcare system,” says Sardelli. “It is an invitation to transform the way we experience it, remembering that doctors cannot truly heal if they are emptied of their humanity, and that patients should never be reduced to a number. Behind every role and every sick body, there exists a unique individual with a history, affections, fears, and an interior life that demand to be recognized. The title therefore captures the deeper meaning of the work: Renato is a doctor, but He's not just a doctor. He's a son, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a fragile and restless man. And it's precisely by rediscovering this human and emotional richness that he can feel alive again."
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