La Doctora

An American Doctor in the Amazon

2002
Author:

Linnea Smith, M.D.

Taken straight from the pages of Dr. Smith’s journal, La Doctora offers readers a rare glimpse into the suspense and drama of practicing medicine in a culture far removed from the sophisticated supplies and supports of 20th-century medicine.

Taken straight from the pages of Dr. Smith’s journal, La Doctora offers readers a rare glimpse into the suspense and drama of practicing medicine in a culture far removed from the sophisticated supplies and supports of 20th-century medicine.

The story that Linnea tells of the Yanamono clinic is one of the great global village stories of our time.

Jean Faraca, Wisconsin Public Radio

In 1990, Dr. Linnea Smith went to Peru on an ecotourism vacation. She was so moved that she abandoned her thriving medical practice in Wisconsin to serve the Yagua Indians in the deepest part of the Amazon rainforest of Peru-alone.

Taken straight from the pages of Dr. Smith’s journal, La Doctora offers readers a rare glimpse into the suspense and drama of practicing medicine in a culture far removed from the sophisticated supplies and supports of 20th-century medicine.

Learn how Dr. Smith evolved from a “strange white woman” to an adopted member of the indigenous community. Her story of adventure, self-discovery and service creates inspiring testimony to one person’s power to make a lasting difference.

Linnea Smith is a native of Wisconsin. At age 30, she entered the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison. After graduating and receiving a board certification in Internal Medicine, she joined a small medical group in rural Wisconsin. She left that practice in 1990 to set up a remote jungle clinic on the banks of the Amazon River, three hours down river from Iquitos, Peru.

The story that Linnea tells of the Yanamono clinic is one of the great global village stories of our time.

Jean Faraca, Wisconsin Public Radio

More than simply a collection of medical cases, this book explores the local culture and chronicles Smith’s efforts to fund and build a new clinic. The book gives rare insight into ‘bare-bones’ medical practice and the exhilaration of following one’s dreams.

ForeWord

Table of Contents

1 "My Wife Can't Have Her Baby!"

Leap into the Unknown

2 My Last Vacation
3 Setting Up Shop
4 Jungle Medicine
5 Indiana

Life on the Amazon

6 Life Along the Stream
7 Life Outside the Clinic
8 Red Tape
9 Fiesta

Jungle Doctor

10 Culture Clash
11 Necrotizing Fasciitis
12 Tropical Diseases
13 More Learning

Clinic Expansion

14 Rotary Rescue
15 Juvencio
16 Building the Clinic

More Jungle Medicine

17 Trauma
18 Childbirth
19 Snakebites
20 Failures and Reflections

The End of the Beginning

21 Coming of Age