A summary of "Notes of a Young Doctor" by Mikhail Bulgakov

This book is a collection of medical stories about the harsh daily life of a young university graduate. The protagonist finds himself in a remote Russian province in 1917. The text is based on the author’s real-life medical experience. He worked in a remote zemstvo hospital, independently battling serious illnesses, the primitive ignorance of the peasants, and his own fears.

The text has been adapted for screen several times. In 2008, the Russian film "Morphine" directed by Alexei Balabanov was released. Later, in 2012, a British series starring Daniel Radcliffe was released.

Towel with a rooster

In September, a twenty-four-year-old doctor travels 43 kilometers over rough terrain. He arrives at Muryevskaya Hospital. The young specialist feels insecure due to his lack of practice. He fears eclipsing the fame of his predecessor, Leopold. The staff treats him with the utmost respect. Paramedic Demyan Lukich and midwives Pelageya Ivanovna and Anna Nikolaevna help him get used to the situation. Soon, a girl with a crushed leg is brought in. The patient’s leg was caught in a linen crusher. The doctor performs his first amputation. The girl survives and later brings him a snow-white towel. A red rooster is embroidered on the fabric.

Snowstorm

Word of the new surgeon spreads throughout the region. The daily intake of patients grows to one hundred. In winter, the young doctor is urgently summoned to a remote estate. A clerk’s fiancée has broken her head during a sleigh ride. The doctor travels through a severe snowstorm. Upon arrival, he discovers a basal skull fracture. He administers camphor, but the girl dies before his eyes. On the return journey, the sleigh loses its way. A pack of wolves pursues the travelers. The doctor fires his Browning and scares off the animals. The horses miraculously reach the hospital lantern.

Steel throat

Three-year-old Lidka is brought to the hospital late at night. She’s choking from diphtheria-like croup. The doctor suggests cutting her throat and inserting a silver tube. Her mother and grandmother categorically refuse. The doctor gives them five minutes to consider the idea. The women agree. The operation is extremely difficult. The doctor can’t find her windpipe. The paramedic faints from the heat and fear. Eventually, the tube is successfully inserted. The girl begins to breathe. After some time, Lidka makes a full recovery. The villagers spread a rumor that the doctor gave her a steel throat.

Egyptian darkness

On a doctor’s birthday, the medical staff drinks diluted alcohol. Colleagues discuss village superstitions. Peasants drink an entire bottle of belladonna in one go. They apply mustard plasters to their sheepskin coats and give women in labor their hair to chew. That night, the polite miller Khudov arrives with malaria. The doctor prescribes ten quinine powders for the patient. The miller is instructed to take one powder at midnight. In the morning, the doctor is urgently awakened. Miller is barely saved by gastric lavage. Wanting to recover more quickly, the intelligent patient swallowed all ten doses of quinine at once.

Morphine

In 1918, Dr. Bomgard was transferred to a provincial town. He enjoyed the electricity, the laboratory, and the peace. Suddenly, a letter arrived from his university friend, Polyakov. Polyakov had taken Bomgard’s place in the wilderness and was now asking for help. The next day, Polyakov himself was brought in. Before his death, his colleague left a note: "Please blame no one for my death." Polyakov gave Bomgard his diary. The entries reveal a story of decline. After separating from his wife, Polyakov began experiencing severe abdominal pain. Midwife Anna Kirillovna gave him his first morphine injection. Addiction developed rapidly. The doctor lost a significant amount of weight, dropping to 55 kilograms. Attempts to replace the drug with cocaine led to terrifying hallucinations. Polyakov stole morphine from a Moscow clinic. He deteriorated mentally and physically. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the doctor committed suicide.

Baptism by turning

On a rainy evening, a doctor is called to see Anna Prokhorova, a woman in labor. The woman’s fetus is in a transverse lie. In a panic, the young specialist runs home to read Döderlein’s obstetric manual. The text seems incomprehensible and frightening. The author warns of uterine ruptures and imminent death. Returning to the operating room, the doctor relies on common sense. Under chloroform anesthesia, he successfully performs a classic pedicle turn. Both mother and baby survive. Reading the textbook after the operation, the doctor notices a miraculous transformation. Complex textbook truths have become crystal clear.

The Missing Eye

A year later, the doctor recalls his first fears. He extracted a soldier’s tooth and pulled out a piece of jawbone. He delivered a difficult child on a rotten bridge. He reduced dislocations and performed complex amputations. Now the surgeon considers himself an experienced specialist. One morning, a one-year-old child is brought in with a huge yellow tumor where an eye should be. The doctor refuses to operate and advises taking the boy to the city surgery center. The mother refuses. A week later, she returns with a healthy baby. The abscess burst on its own, revealing the eye hidden beneath. The doctor understands the need for constant learning.

Star rash

During a consultation, a doctor examines a man with a hoarse throat. A star-shaped rash is visible on the patient’s chest. The doctor diagnoses syphilis. The farmer, incredulous at the diagnosis, ignores the mercury ointment and disappears forever. Studying the archives, the surgeon uncovers a terrifying picture. The disease has been transmitted for decades through shared utensils. The infection affects entire families, the elderly, and small children. Later, the doctor forces and threatens a mother with two rash-covered children to remain in the hospital. He succeeds in opening a separate hospital. The doctor successfully treats the patients with new infusions of Salvarsan. One of the saved patients brings the doctor about 800 grams of butter as a token of gratitude.

I killed

In a Moscow apartment, doctors discuss their profession. Dr. Yashvin looks at a calendar page and says, "I killed." He confesses that exactly seven years ago, he deliberately took a man’s life. The events took place in Kyiv in 1919. Yashvin was awaiting the arrival of the Bolsheviks. The retreating Petliura forces forcibly conscripted him. At the headquarters of a cavalry regiment, he bandaged frostbitten soldiers. In the next room, people were being beaten with ramrods. Colonel Leshchenko supervised the brutal torture. One of the prisoners stabbed him with a penknife. The colonel called Yashvin to bandage him. At that moment, a woman burst into the white room. She spat in Leshchenko’s face for executing her husband. The colonel ordered her to be given twenty-five lashes with ramrods. Yashvin pulled out a Browning. He shot the torturer right in the mouth, jumped out the window, and disappeared.