Against Medical Advice : : a True Story

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"Against Medical Advice" is the true story of Cory Friedman and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties as they embarked on an excruciating journey to discover the cause of Cory's disease.

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Dramatic Story of Teen with TS+ submitted by sdunav on June 25, 2011, 4:26pm This story of a teenager with Tourette's and OCD is a powerful one, and a very quick read, but the narrative voice made me uncomfortable. Perhaps it's just James Patterson's style - I'm just not a fan of his work. It was also hard for me to separate the main character's feelings (who is the narrator) from his father's (who was a co-author with Patterson). I would have liked it better if Cory Fieldman himself had been an author.

Lowell Handler's "Twitch and Shout" and Brad Cohen's "Front of the Class" both gave me more insight into TS/OCD than "Against Medical Adivce", and read less like action novels - though I realize some readers may prefer Patterson's style. "Twitch and Shout", especially, has wonderful, elegant prose and wicked humor.

All of these books do publicize TS, though, and if James Patterson's name makes more people read this story, and be more comfortable around people with tics, then I'm happy he wrote it. I do wish some places to find further information on Tourette's had been included in the back of the book, as with Cohen and Handler's books. A link to the Tourette Syndrome Association would have been a lot more useful than the appendix that was included.

Compeling submitted by fka83111 on June 23, 2013, 2:45pm This is the compelling and true story of a boy suffering multiple conditions from the age of 5. JP takes his readers through Cory's life- his ups and many downs, his courage and what it means to be afflicted with a medical condition that defies a cure. Cort and his parents go through many medical travails and he is able to "beat" his Tourrette's Syndronm, OCD, Schizophrenia. It is also a tale of medical development in the US. It touches a lot on medical ethics.

A Gripping Tale for All submitted by mrajraspn08 on June 18, 2014, 10:33am This is a gripping story of a teen with severe Tourette's and OCD. The journey taken to beat his illnesses is moving and inspiring, and the look at medical ethics is thought-provoking. A powerful read, whether you're looking for information, action, or emotion.