Doctors (novel)

Doctors (novel)

Doctors (1988) by Erich Segal deals with the Harvard Medical School class of 1962, with emphasis on the two main characters, Barney Livingston and Laura Castellano. They grew up next to each other and always aspired to be doctors, eventually ending up in medical school together. There they meet the other characters who also came to become doctors, viz., Bennett Landsman, Seth Lazarus, Hank Dwyer, Peter Wyman, Grete Anderson, and Lance Mortimer among others. Some of the other doctors mentioned in the novel who leave a strong impression on readers' minds are: Dr. Luis Castellano, Laura's father, Dean Courtney Holmes at Harvard, Andrew Himmerman, Marshall Jaffe, Paul Rhodes and Toivo Karvonen.

It is one of the more realistic depictions of medical professionals and scientific researchers in the domain, apart from the usual emotional plot. The issues of medical and research ethics and euthanasia also form integral parts of the whole plot.