Everything But the Medicine

Candid insight into the life and work of a general practitioner

Wise, candid, brave and moving, this superbly written memoir by a New Zealand GP is reminiscent of the warm wisdom and humanity of the American physician and writer Atul Gawande.

Over her long career Dr Lucy O’Hagan has developed deep insights into the profound but often complex relationship between patients and doctors. Reading about her own struggle with what it means to be a truly useful doctor is both fascinating and absorbing.

From working with people living on the margins and her own burnout to her efforts to better serve her Māori patients and the humour that’s sometimes needed to get through the day, she keeps her eye on one key question: What is it to be a good doctor in this place?

To look inside, click here.

Audiobook now available. 

‘One of the best books of nonfiction of 2025’ — Steve Braunius, Newsroom

‘Goes beyond the medicine and explores the intricate and often complex relationship between patient and doctor’ — Rawan Saadi, The Wanaka Sun

‘Everything But the Medicine is straight out of the trenches. Read it, then call me in the morning. It is very much a medicine itself.’ — Glenn Colquhoun

‘Central to O’Hagan’s memoir are her ongoing efforts to make her humanity visible to her patients.’ — Anne Kerslake Hendricks, NZ Booklovers

‘It’s a powerful book. It will join my library of outstanding medical memoirs such as those of Emma Wehipeihana, Atul Gawande, David Galler and Glenn Colquhoun. I shall keep Everything But the Medicine in my office so that I can lend it to fellow consultants, junior doctors, medical students and nurses, to remind them that it’s not all about us.’ — Eileen Merriman, Newsroom

‘The audience is enthralled — silent as stones in the moments of crisis, laughing out loud at the slapstick humour’ — Jules Older on Lucy O’Hagan’s one-woman show based on Everything But the Medicine, Theatreview