Leaving Surgery for Hollywood with Anthony Chin-Quee, MD
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What inspired Anthony Chin‑Quee to write his memoir *I Can't Save You*?
Support for the nocturnist comes from the California Medical Association.
At the Nocturinous, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with healthcare privacy laws. Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality. All views expressed are those of the person speaking and not their employer.
You're listening to the Nocturnous Conversations. I'm Emily Silverman. Physician memoirs are a lot of fun to read. But every once in a while a voice comes along that puts a completely different spin on the genre. Anthony Chin Kui is one of those voices, as I was very happy to discover in reading his 2023 memoir, I Can't Save You. The book, which I would describe as playful, irreverent, and brutally honest, is a coming of age story which chronicles the ups and downs of Tony's residency in ENT, as well as his inner journey coming to grips with his family legacy. Tony was educated at Harvard and Emory, but ultimately made the decision to leave clinical medicine and pursue his dreams as an artist. An award-winning storyteller with The Moth, he's been on the writing staff of Fox's The Resident and ABC's Grey's Anatomy, which you'll hear much more about in the interview that follows.
But first, let's hear an excerpt from Tony's book, I Can't Save You. Here's Tony.
At eleven forty three AM, that little black Motorola box of horrors chirped at me for the first time. I may or may not have spontaneously peed a couple of drops before I got it together. No big deal, right? Happens to everybody. I picked up the phone and dialed the emergency room. The conversation panned out just like a scene from your average nineties era fish out of water comedy, except significantly less funny as functioning body parts were at stake. The ER. This is the ER. Tony. Still damp in the pants. Hi, this is Dr. Chin Kui from Plastic Surgery, returning a page. ER Yeah, um cool. So listen, we've got a forty year old gentleman down here who dislocated his right ring finger when he fell off a bike this morning.
We've had a couple of residents and attendings try to pop it back in place, but no dice. So we wanted to have the hand specialist come and take a look. Tony. Yeah, it sounds like you should totally do that. ER. So are you gonna come down or Tony. Right. That's me, the hand specialist. Oh yeah, absolutely. I'll be down in a few. I got on the computer and looked up the patient's x-ray, holding my right hand up for reference as the number of hand x-rays I'd critically evaluated to that point in my life was equal to zero. Despite my lack of experience, even I could see that his right ring fingered Looked f funny as hell. Suddenly, and thankfully, anatomical vocabulary came flooding back to me from some dusty med school corner of my brain.
There was no evidence of fracture in any of the bones of the hand. The fourth metacarpophalangeal joint, the base of the finger, had been dislocated. The finger seemed to be seated dorsal to or behind the metacarpal bone, which comprised the palm portion of the digit. I had successfully completed step one. Determined that the emergency room was not lying to me. Awesome. Now for step two. Do something. Oh wait, should I do something? I had never, ever fixed a dislocated finger in my life. Maybe it was time to call my senior and ask him to come to the hospital and show me how to do it. Nah, F that noise. Was I really gonna call my senior for my first consult of all time without even trying to fix the problem?
And honestly, what was the worst that could happen? I could try and fail, and the poor biker's finger would continue to dangle in the breeze. He might be in a little bit more pain, but none the worse for the wear. No, there would be no call to my senior. That day I would celebrate. My Independence Day. To that end. I exercised one of the great freedoms my forefathers had fought, bled, and died for. The internet search. I logged onto YouTube and typed in how to fix a dislocated finger. Please hold your applause. Ten minutes later, I walked through the doors of the ER with the tails of my white coat billowing behind me.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What inspired Anthony Chin‑Quee to write his memoir *I Can't Save You*?
0:00–6:36
2
How did a dislocated finger in the ER become a turning point for his career?
6:36–13:59
3
Why did Anthony decide to leave ENT residency and pursue storytelling?
13:59–20:59
4
What role does the “inner voice” play in his writing and healing process?
20:59–27:35
5
How does a TV writer’s room for medical dramas actually work?
27:35–33:37
6
What challenges did he face transitioning from surgery to Hollywood?
33:37–39:59
7
What advice does he give doctors who want to pivot out of clinical practice?
39:59–46:05
8
What are Anthony’s next creative projects beyond medical storytelling?
46:05–52:18