How to Influence the World by Writing a Medical Thriller – 116

Interview with Dr. Debra Blaine

Dr. Debra Blaine, an urgent care physician, recently released a medical thriller called Code Blue – The Other End of the Stethoscope. And I was very pleased to welcome her to the podcast to discuss it.

Although she is not a full time author, I thought it would be instructive and fun to hear how her writing journey began, culminating in the publication of her novel.

I was also interested in supporting the release of the book after reading it, for three reasons:

• First, it’s a genre that I like and enjoyed reading.
• Second, because the book’s heroine is a physician facing a worldwide medical conspiracy that results in her brother’s murder.
• And finally, because Debra peppers the story with examples of the frustrations of medical practice experienced by us physicians in our increasingly dysfunctional health system.

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Background

Dr. Blaine was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island, NY. She received her BA in Philosophy and Hebrew at the University of Texas at Austin, before going on for graduate studies in Comparative Religion at Temple University. She attended Baylor College of Medicine to earn her MD in 1987, and has practiced medicine on Long Island for thirty years.

The changing face of medicine compelled her to return to her earliest dreams: to engage with and attempt to influence our world through writing and the exchange of ideas.

Writing a Medical Thriller

Debra wanted to get back to her creative roots. But she also wanted to use her writing to share the story of the frustrations of practicing medicine in a corporate environment. She decided that a novel would be an effective way to accomplish that.

However, it would recquire telling a compelling story that would attract readers at the same time. Debra recounts how she essentially had to learn a whole new discipline, that of book author, during the process of writing and editing her medical thriller.