Richard Dean Smith, MD

Home



Each student in my fifth grade class was given the assignment to write a poem, and all were submitted to Child Life. Many of the poems were published, including mine. I didn't publish anything over the next 17 years. I was not an avid reader, until I got bifocal glasses years ago. Now, I read.

I also began to write, mainly because having a few publishing credits was thought to open doors of opportunity. In a competitive profession, publications are valuable. In fact, skillful use of language in any way, whether writing, reading, speaking, accent, etc. is an asset. Authorship benefits me in other indirect ways. Although considered strange to some, envy to a few who wish they had written their book or poem, and annoying to those caught in the trap of a mass hysteria.

An interest in classical guitar and history of medicine resulted in “Paganini, The Riddle and Connective Tissue” in Journal of the American Medical Association, which led to other inquiries and publications, such as two volumes on Herman Melville, and four on the craze of managed care.



Selected Works


Pool: It's Mental. It's Physical. It's Mystical.
Pool: more than mental, more than physical, it's partly mystical.

Historical fiction, a mystery
Requiem for Doctor Edward Browne.
A doctor and family struggle to survive in the era of managed care. Dr. Browne uncovers deception by government, insurance companies, consultants, hospitals, and others.
Fiction
Captain Noon! Captain Noon! Procrastination Considered as One of the Fine Arts.
Captain Noon, in his last year of college, sleeps till noon while time and chances slip away.
Medical management.
Satire of the absurdity of a national craze: managed care.
Social commentary and medical care, an irrational mass movement.
Social commenary on an illogical mass movement, a mass hysteria.
Health of Keyboard Workers.
Literary Criticism
Melville's Science: "Devilish Tantalization of the Gods!"
The role of the conflict of science and religion in the mid-nineteenth century in the works of Herman Melville.
Literary / Medical
Outlines situations and problem individuals encountered and how to cope with them.
Social importance of an irrational mass movement.