Looking up health information online is daunting, and you may find yourself searching through a sea of good, bad and incomplete information. What to believe?

It may give you some peace of mind to know that your San Jose Public Library card gives you access to the following subscription health information databases. You can access these databases at any SJPL branch or at home by entering your library card and PIN numbers. 

Consumer Health Complete

Covers all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to holistic and integrated medicine. Includes topics such as aging, cancer, diabetes, drugs and alcohol, fitness, nutrition and dietetics, and children's health.

Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition

Articles on nursing and allied health.

Magill's Medical Guide Online

There was going to be a big test and Tom had forgotten to study.  What was he going to do?  He tried to study in a hurry,  but it didn't work.  He pretended to be sick;  Aunt Polly called the doctor.  Doctor Robinson gave him a medicine that tasted awful.  That taste made him feel like he would not want to take it ever again, and made him a strong boy all of a sudden again!  He excused himself to grab his books and dashed out the door.  He was eager to get to school and face the challenge of the big test, no matter how it would happen!

Book was written by Mark Twain.

MedlinePlus is a great place to start when you are seeking information on a wide range of subjects in the medical field. For example, under the Health Topics page, you can search; Body Location/Systems, Disorders & Conditions, Diagnosis and Theory, Health & Wellness, or Demographic Groups.

Do you want to know the effects of a certain drug? It's here. Do you have an upcoming surgery? Find out what preparation is needed and choose from a list of surgical video recordings. What about immunization schedules for children you ask?! You guessed it.

Browsers may also choose English or Spanish language text. (I really like the Merriam Webster search component for when I don't know how to spell what I'm trying to find.) This site has a great collection of interactive tutorials and videos. Wow!

MedlinePlus is just one of the many excellent databases offered by the San José Public Library.

My Lobotomy
by Howard Dully with Charles Fleming
In 1960 at age 12, Howard Dully became the youngest patient of Dr. Walter Freeman to receive a transorbital – or “ice pick” – lobotomy. What happens to Dully after the surgery is a life of skipping around to various foster families, halfway houses, juvenile hall, and even an insane asylum. Forty years after the lobotomy, as his father is living his final days, Dully decides he needs to know why this happened to him. What was the lobotomy for? Why did his family abandon him after the surgery? How much of an impact did this procedure have on the rest of his life? With the help of journalist Charles Fleming, Dully begins to look back at his life and investigate his family’s history as well as the history of Dr. Walter Freeman, an unlicensed surgeon that may have performed as many as 40,000 lobotomies during his career.

Dully’s story is shocking and inspiring. He takes the reader through his extremely dysfunctional childhood and an abusive stepmother who was the one that approved of the surgery. Dully and Fleming do an excellent job of weaving Dully’s story with transcripts and letters from family and doctors as well as the story of Dr. Freeman’s career. The last chapters of the story talk about Dully’s adulthood and how he has been able to work through all of his struggles. My Lobotomy is the tragic story of an optimistic and brave person.

Reviewed by Edenvale Branch Library staff member Angie Miraflor