Works of literature can also be used to change public attitudes to health and illness-related behaviour. Stories can change lives and the power of the word can be significant. One possible scenario is the Contagion theory of behaviour change, which proposes that behaviour can be changed by the passing on (the contagion) of effective stories.

Seduced by the thought of easy money from wealthy clients rather than the principles he started with, Manson becomes involved with pampered private patients and fashionable surgeons and drifts away from his wife. A patient dies because of a surgeon's ineptitude, and the incident causes Manson to abandon his practice and return to his principles. He and his wife repair their damaged relationship, but then she is run over by a bus and killed. The Citadel begins as Dr Andrew Manson, a newly qualified doctor and a graduate of St Andrews/Dundee, arrives in a small Welsh mining village to take up his first clinical post as assistant to a general practitioner. The clinical cases are very real, from his first case of typhoid through to a broken arm in a pit collapse requiring an on-the-spot amputation in very cramped conditions. The men, as miners, have a company insurance policy and they can change doctors as they wish, which is fortunate: Dr Manson is often critical of the quality of the work of the other doctors in the town.Madhura Swapnam (from the novel The Citadel), directed by K. Raghavendra Rao, featuring Jaya Prada, Jayasudha, and Krishnamraju Simply put, this is the story of a doctor's assistant who gets an appointment in Wales to help an MD in a mining village. However, when he arrives, he finds that the MD has been incapacitated from a stroke and he must carry on without him. From there, he starts specializing in diseases of the lungs, gets his MD licence, works his way up the corporal ladder and very nearly sells his soul in his quest to "be someone". An expectant public: 1948–2008 60 years of the NHS". Birth of NHS in Scotland. Scottish Government. 2008 . Retrieved 25 March 2013.

Once to Every Woman (from short story, Kaleidoscope in "K"), directed by Lambert Hillyer, featuring Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, Walter Connolly, Mary Carlisle, and Walter Byron Doctor Finlay ( ITV and PBS), featuring David Rintoul, Annette Crosbie, Ian Bannen, Jessica Turner, and Jason Flemyng The Stars Look Down, set in the North East of England, is another of his best-selling novels inspired by his work among miners. Both novels have been filmed, as have Hatter's Castle, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years. His 1935 novella Country Doctor inspired a long-running BBC radio and TV series, Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962–1971), set in the 1920s. There was a follow-up series in 1993–1996. [4] Early life [ edit ] Rosebank Cottage, Cronin's birthplacea b Liukkonen, Petri. "A. J. Cronin". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 25 April 2011.

The Stars Look Down ( Granada), featuring Ian Hastings, Susan Tracy, Alun Armstrong, and Christian Rodska This book is the journey of a young doctor fresh out of college, eager to help everyone with his knowledge and skills who ends up lost in the charm of money and fame and losses all interest in the morals and values he once fought for. This is a story of a woman who fell in love with an honest hardworking doctor who went to great lengths to save lives, only to find him changing for the worse into someone whom they both despised. The story of her struggles to make him realise his mistakes. This is a book about medical ethics and what it means to be a doctor. It is a great read and all aspiring medical students must definitely read this stunning book.Episode 5: Andrew informs Dr Llewellyn that he intends to meet with the other medical assistants that evening and that he expects them to join forces in refusing to pay 20% of their income to him. However, to Andrew's dismay, during the meeting that follows he fails to gain the necessary support from his fellow medical assistants. In his despair at the hopelessness of his situation, Christine convinces Andrew to study for the M.R.C.P. qualification offering to help him with the language proficiency requirements. The arduous combination of work and study is stressful to Andrew, who takes his frustrations out on Christine. However, he travels to London and sits the examinations where his oral examiners are Sir Robert Abbey and Dr. Maurice Gadsby (both of whom feature again later in the series). He passes. Immediately on his return from London he is called to an accident in the mine, where, under dangerous and challenging circumstances, he amputates the trapped leg of a miner. Christine informs Andrew that she is pregnant. One morning, five months into her pregnancy, she mentions to Andrew that she is worried about the state of the bridge, and Andrew promises to ask the committee to do something about it. However, the bridge collapses when Christine is crossing it. Whilst Christine does not appear to suffer significant injuries to herself, she miscarries the baby and Dr. Llewellyn informs Andrew that she is unlikely to ever bear another child. Andrew's research into silicosis in anthracite workers is progressing well, and he applies for an M.D. on the basis of his thesis. His experiments involve testing silica on [guinea pigs, and there are local complaints about vivisection for which Andrew has no licence. An official from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals comes and seizes the guinea pigs, and Andrew is brought before the local Committee under threat of dismissal. In his defence Andrew informs the committee that the blood they reported to have seen in his home laboratory was simply a chemical that he had spilt. He compares the continued use of white mice and canaries down the mine to his use of guinea pigs – both examples of sacrificing the lives of animals to save those of humans. Furthermore, he states that if his research is successful then miners and their families who suffer because of silicosis would have the benefit of receiving compensation. The committee votes, and the majority decision is that he should stay in his role. Andrew's response is to resign his position. He informs Christine that they will live in London instead. Dr. Manson also has less positive characteristics that affect his personal and professional choices. Besides being a skilled doctor dedicated to his patient’s welfare, he is also overly proud and competitive. Many of the dramatic events revolve around which of these traits take prominence in Dr. Manson’s personal and career choices. I found myself often thinking of how pride is one of the seven deadly sins. I do like that Dr. Manson is portrayed as not overly heroic but as a man with faults. The reader will not always like Dr. Manson or his choices. However, I did find some of the switches in which of Dr. Manson’s traits became prominent to be a bit abrupt and melodramatic. La Cittadella ( Titanus), featuring Massimo Ghini, Barbora Bobuľová, Franco Castellano, and Anna Galiena

La Cittadella ( RAI), featuring Alberto Lupo, Anna Maria Guarnieri, Fosco Giachetti, Loretta Goggi and Eleonora Rossi Drago Several other books have this kind of storyline but in different scenarios and covering different heath issues, such as: The novel is of interest because of its portrayal of a voluntary contribution medical association which is based (not entirely uncritically) on the Tredegar Medical Aid Society for which Cronin worked for a time in the 1920s, and which in due course became the inspiration for the National Health Service as established under Aneurin Bevan. He is brought before the GMC and cannot deny that he removed the patient from hospital, took her to Stillman’s clinic and assisted in the procedure to deal with the tuberculosis. The patient herself testifies that she is now well. Manson considers that, in spite of legal warnings, he should speak, giving a passionate defence of his actions which are central to the wider outcome of the book. He points out that when doctors qualify, they don’t have sufficient knowledge and skills: they do not undertake postgraduate educational programmes, they use ineffective and outdated remedies, the science base is limited and not in the front line, and they don’t work cooperatively. He is very negative about the fee system and the fee splitting between doctors, all done to make more money. Jones R. AJ Cronin: novelist, GP, and visionary. Br J Gen Pract. 2015;65(638):479. doi:10.3399/bjgp15X686629MacPherson, Hamish (3 January 2021). "AJ Cronin: The doctor turned novelist whose heart always remained in Scotland". The National. Glasgow . Retrieved 15 January 2023. The Citadel, directed by King Vidor, featuring Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, and Rex Harrison Several kinds of solutions can be offered for this dichotomy. This book doesn't predict the National Health Service or imagine anything near as wide ranging, although it is sometimes said to have paid a role in bringing it about. Cronin, who was a Doctor himself, imagines instead something like the Polyclinics of the Soviet Union staffed by a mixed group of medical personnel devoted to the ideal of healing rather than of earning money. Individual virtue rather than structural change is as far as he goes. I suppose this is often the imagined answer because we can imagine that we might, if well supported, be able to practise individual virtue, while massive structural social change seems a bit fantastical, in the event the Second World war occurred and the practise of national mobilisation produced a profound shift in thinking which dominated the country until the end 1970s. But Cronin wasn't to know that in 1937. E le stelle stanno a guardare ( RAI), featuring Orso Maria Guerrini, Andrea Checchi, and Giancarlo Giannini For his fifth book, Dr. Cronin drew on his experiences practising medicine in the coal-mining communities of the South Wales Valleys, as he had for The Stars Look Down two years earlier. Specifically, he had researched and reported on the correlation between coal dust inhalation and lung disease in the town of Tredegar. He had also worked as a doctor for the Tredegar Medical Aid Society at the Cottage Hospital, which served as the model for the National Health Service.