Solving the case, making the diagnosis: Neurology and detective writing

When searching for clues to reach a diagnosis, neurologists often empathise with the detective who is trying to solve a case, write Peter Kempster and Andrew Lees in BMJ sister journal Practical Neurology bit.ly/1dqReQq.

In this podcast, journal editor Phil Smith and Andrew Lees, director of the Queen Square Brain Bank in London, discuss how neurologists draw upon detective skills. They also talk about neurologists who have turned these skills to crime fiction writing, and the use of narrative in clinical case histories.

The expert witnesses called upon are:

- Oliver Sacks, best selling author and professor of neurology at NYU School of Medicine

- Peter Gautier Smith, now retired from consulting at Queen Square and author of 31 detective novels

- Chris Goetz, who worked at Rush University Medical Centre with Harold Klawans, crime fiction writer and authority on Parkinson’s disease

Listen to the full interviews here:

Andrew Lees bit.ly/1cPaoxM

Peter Gautier-Smith bit.ly/1d5HhKj

Harold Klawans bit.ly/19cXR

Oliver Sacks bit.ly/1hBsbgz