George Issa
"Saving lives, one awkward interaction at a time."
About The Author
Dr. George Issa started his academic adventure at the University of Georgia and went on to earn his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. He then somehow survived an internal medicine residency at the University of Washington, emerging with a slightly bigger brain, a lot more patience, and an uncanny ability to recall obscure medical facts at exactly the wrong time.
Today, he juggles life as a teaching attending, medical professor and director of hospice & palliative care. When he’s not saving lives or debating moral dilemmas, he can be found snowboarding, traveling, or attempting to cook without setting off the smoke alarm.
Residency teaches you a simple rule very early in training: if someone appears to be having a seizure, you move. There is no committee meeting, no leisurely discussion, and certainly no standing in the doorway debating possibilities. Seizures can be life-threatening, so when you think you see one, you act first and sort out the details later. Most of the time, that instinct serves you well. Every now and then, however, your brain connects dots t...
Between Life and Laughter
George Issa MD
- This Is Going to HurtAdam Kay
- The House of GodSamuel Shem
The Upcoming Memoir
Between Life and Laughter
One of my patients once drank chemotherapy after their IV came out, not because they were confused but because they were curious what it tasted like. Another arrived with a 9mm bullet intentionally lodged in a part of the human body that still defies logic. As physicians quickly learn, medicine doesn’t merely rival fiction; it routinely outperforms it.
Between Life and Laughter is a 74,000-word memoir told through true, often outrageous stories from my career as a physician. While the stories are frequently laugh-out-loud funny, the book asks a more serious question: what do years of practicing medicine do to the people who choose it? Behind the absurdity are physicians trying to preserve their humanity while confronting suffering, misinformation, ethical dilemmas, death, and a healthcare system that can make caring surprisingly difficult.
As the stories unfold, laughter becomes more than entertainment; it becomes a coping mechanism, a way to stay sane in a profession where suffering and loss are unavoidable. The result is an unvarnished look at medicine from the physician’s perspective, exploring how dark humor coexists with compassion and grief at the bedside. The book will appeal to readers of Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt and Samuel Shem’s The House of God, while offering an intimate look at the thoughts and experiences physicians rarely share publicly.
From The Journal
Selected entries from the files of Dr. Issa. Names have been changed to protect the guilty (and the absurd).
I’ll Come Back
"One afternoon, I walked into a patient’s room during rounds and immediately noticed the bed sheets moving rather... enthusiastically. Not the subtle shifting of someone getting comfortable, and not the occasional twitch you see in a sleeping patient..."
The Thinking Man
"I genuinely don’t understand what makes people do certain things. Where do these ideas even come from? Does the brain simply wake up one morning, spin a giant roulette wheel labeled Terrible Decisions, and enthusiastically commit to whatever it lands on?"
Too Much Personality
"We all love patients with big personalities. They break up the monotony and remind us why we do what we do. Sometimes it’s a smart, funny conversation that makes the chaos bearable. Other times, “too much personality” is... well, a medical problem."
External Consults
In The Media
The Blanket Sign: Recognizing difficult patient encounters in the ER
Difficult patient encounters are a reality of hospital medicine. A doctor shares a candid story about the "Blanket Sign," internet cures, and the challenge of care.
Pharmaceutical advertising dangers: Why drug ads hurt patients
Pharmaceutical advertising dangers mislead patients and inflate costs. A physician warns against marketing gimmicks and unregulated supplements.
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Issa Foundation HealthCare Scholarship
Graduate school is where passion meets pressure. We believe financial burdens shouldn't hinder the prospects of resilient physicians who view patients as people, not problems.
This scholarship supports students committed to personal growth and ethical practice—those who recognize that human connection is as essential as technical skill.
Selection Criteria
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Represented for "Between Life and Laughter". Available for speaking, collaboration, or general medical absurdity.