The youngest patient
A child of two years and eight months, a distended belly and a surgical decision he never forgot.
“He was my youngest patient ever.”
Stories of a doctor
Short stories. A whole life.
Editorial adaptations of the episodes gathered in "Reminiscences of a Doctor". We preserved the meaning of each account. None of them is current medical advice.
The 79-year-old patient
At the other end of life, a 79-year-old man arrives with appendicitis. Years later he seeks him out in São Paulo.
“I received an elderly patient, 79, with appendicitis.”
An early morning at the Santa Casa
An empty emergency room, an ambulance, a young woman in severe abdominal pain and the speed an emergency demands.
“In an empty ER, at two in the morning...”
The first time I cried
A driver with a gunshot wound whom he recognises from a hospital visit days earlier, when the man was with his wife and newborn son.
“It was the first time I cried at a patient's death.”
The 96-year-old Russian gentleman
A small office above a bakery, a 96-year-old gentleman with a fractured femur and the referral that made the neighbourhood trust the new doctor.
“From then on, it "rained" patients.”
The man who wanted to lose weight
A patient asks for help losing weight. The physical examination reveals changes in the lungs. The diagnosis is tuberculosis.
“Some time later he came to my office and cried.”
"You don't know her life"
A woman who brought her child to the office and could not always pay. Faced with criticism, Pedro answered with the sentence that sums up his way.
“You don't know her life, so don't criticise her.”
The mother who sensed the danger
A three-year-old worsens quickly. The examination shows no clear signs, but the mother insists. Pedro listens, sends them to the Emílio Ribas, and the diagnosis is meningitis.
“It was you, a good and careful mother, who alerted me to how serious the illness was.”
The call from the pharmacy
Called urgently to a pharmacy, he finds a woman collapsed after an allergic reaction. Immediate care, emergency measures and a hug of relief.
“The pharmacist hugged and kissed me.”
"The true minister is Pedro"
A phrase attributed to a priest friend sums up the impression Pedro's dedication left on those who saw him work.
“I know I am the priest, but the true minister is Pedro.”
Who created this memorial
Meet Felipe Guedes Felipe Guedes did not grow up with his father. He knows Pedro through the stories, and loves him for them. What he keeps most is the doctor who treated for free those who could not pay: a way of looking at people, not at money, that Felipe carries with him.