I have walked in and out of the lives of countless numbers of patients. I have stood in rooms, in corners: sat on beds, chairs, and knelt on floors. I have been the visitor who is there when you find yourself most vulnerable, when you lie on a hospital bed or on a trolley in the resus department of A&E. I have been the visitor that you may never even know was there at all.How much do you know about the doctor who walked in and out of your life? Who diagnosed your mum, nursed your granddad in his last few days, or who saved your sister’s life? And have you ever wondered what they felt? If they cried later with joy, or with grief?Told through the lens of six emotions that all of us can empathise with, this book from the British Medical Association’s own Secret Doctor gives us a unique window onto the other side of a hospital experience. Through the Secret Doctor’s eyes we see how grief can be found in many forms, and what happens when you see fear in a patient’s eyes. We find out how to cope when you’ve made a life-threatening mistake: or what joy looks like when you feel it, and how long it lasts.These real stories from an anonymous doctor blur the lines between patient and doctor, showing us what a doctor sees of humanity as it comes through the revolving door of the hospital, what we have in common and what makes us human.