Telltale hearts: a public health doctor, his patients, and the power of story

Part 1: When There is No Story

Part 2: In Story Lies the Cure

Part 3: Story as Catalyst

Prologue : Tales from the medical underground ; From one to many ; Where all the real stories can be found Part 1 : When There is No Story Chapter 1 : The Magic Bus ; Act 1 : The alarm ; Interlude : The magic train ; Act 2 : The magic bus Chapter 2 : Medical School Dropout ; A question of meaning ; Finding the mission Chapter 3 : The Luminati ; The faceless ones ; The interrogation room ; A yellow genie in the bottle ; The shrill of the whistle ; Bright lights, bad CT scan ; A blinding nightmare Chapter 4 : The Culture of Blood ; Inside the trenches ; Interlude : Bridging the trenches ; Inside the trenches Chapter 5 : Man and Bird ; The man ; The bird ; The man ; The bird ; The man ; The bird ; The man ; The bird ; The bird, one year later, The man, today Chapter 6 : Patagonia Pastorale Chapter 7 : The Quixotic Pursuit of Quality Chapter 8 : The Brother. Found down ; How doctors think ; The lifesaver ; VIP care ; A decade later Part 2 : In Story Lies the Cure Chapter 9 : The Disability Blues Chapter 10 : Lost in Translation : Refining the Most Common Medical Procedure ; A therapeutic encounter ; Communication, capillaries, and clinical care ; A lesson from my father : A bedside communication spectacle Chapter 11 : Detectives of Social Vulnerability ; How doctors usually think ; Doctors in public hospitals need to think differently ; A Friday-night call ; Running my list ; Putting it all together Chapter 12 : Racism as a Public Health Threat : "It's About Time" Chapter 13 : The Telltale Heart ; The lungs versus the heart ; Playing chess to win ; Into the big house ; The telltale heart ; Health and illness are family affairs

Chapter 14 : The Mood of the Bay ; Sauna wisdom ; Outside in and inside out : A tale of two people ; Seeing red ; Reengagement ; The juncture of the elements

Chapter 15 : Flags and Statues ; Running my list ; Cutting corners

Chapter 16 : The Frequent Flyer

Chapter 17 : Smoke and Mirrors ; Hands and doorknobs ; Soldiering on ; A midsummer night's project ; What are the odds? ; Return of the Greatest Generation ; Passage into a foreign land ; The home visit ; Prelude to an obituary ; Cancer's root cause

Part 3 : Story as Catalyst

Chapter 18 : Walking on Coals : Melanie's Story

Chapter 19 : Melanie Goes to the State Capitol ; The diabetes czar ; From doctor to dictator ; From dictator back to doctor

Chapter 20 : Melanie Goes to Court ; Reframe : Mobilizing for a war on the home front against diabetes ; Take aim : Warning notices on soda billboards ; Win the game : Melanie versus Goliath ; Winning the game

Chapter 21 : Melanie Goes to City Hall : Boxing is a twelve-round sport : Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages ; Melanie wins a round ; Melanie blankets the media ; Junk food and junk science ; My daughter Mica, Melanie, and the mirror ; Melanie's victory at the polls ; Bringing others into the center of the ring

Chapter 22 : Melanie Goes Onstage ; A profound performance ; Bringing on the noise : The bigger picture campaign ; Perfect Soldiers / by Gabriel Cortez ; Chocolate Smile / by Marje Kilpatrick ; Poetry and policy ; The crossroads ; The Corner / by José Vadi

Epilogue : Song for My Father : To the Dark Side and Back Again ; A beacon and a sanctuary ; Health and hygiene ; A subhuman laboratory and torture chamber ; The doppelgänger