He described Malcolm's illness as treatable and said that when troubled youths receive a range of therapy early in their lives, they are more likely to be rehabilitated.

His doctor described his illness as an incurable condition of the upper gastro-intestinal tract that was probably cancer.

The memories were sometimes unhappy, as when Mr. Dorfman thrashed about while describing his mother's fatal illness.

"Patient" describes his illness and hospitalisation for a rare disease, and it rang really true as I had been in hospital just before I read it.

They turned her over to a Dr. Ed Brown, a young psychiatrist who later made his reputation describing her illness.

The story begins with Hadrian, who is around sixty years of age, describing his incurable illness.

He sustained several visits to the hospital by 1897 and later described his illness as a nervous disorder and depression.

Cohn died in 1986 of complications due to Aids, although he publicly described his illness as liver cancer.

"He's in good spirits and he described his illness as a new rare disease - 'bicentennial exhaustion,' " said Toni House, the spokeswoman.

Only the last chapter of the book, describing Gershwin's illness from a brain tumor (which went undiagnosed until days before his death), is genuinely moving.