Hilton Koppe was working as a doctor in small-town Australia when he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. As the fallout from the trauma of the diagnosis began to settle, he tried to work out how he ended up in this position. Was the PTSD a consequence of vicarious trauma from working as a country doctor for over thirty years? Did it come from his life-long feelings of being an outsider trying so hard to fit in? Or was it a result of trauma experienced by his parents and grandparents in their search for security across three continents?
Or maybe it was all down to personality type. His nature. Did the qualities which made him a trusted doctor also make him more vulnerable to the inevitable impact of caring for people over many years?
In One Curious Doctor, Hilton Koppe writes with curiosity and compassion of his family fleeing Europe, the lessons he learned from the patients he helped, and his sadness and relief of no longer being able to practise medicine.