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Mercedez Soliz

Professor Burleson

PHIL 1312-1

19 April 2023

Patch Adams
The movie Patch Adams is based on the true story and from the book “Gesundheit: Good

Health Is a Laughing Matter” by Hunter “Patch” Adams and Maureen Mylander.On his very

own website, (“The Gesundheit! Institute,”) Patch Adams gives his own life story growing up.

Stating that his dad was a World War II veteran and could not connect with his sons due to his

career. His mother on the other hand was the complete opposite, she took care of him well and

made sure he had a good life. As a teen in school, he was continuously bullied and became

hospitalized three times for trying to commit suicide. While Patch Adams was in the hospital, he

realized the patient care there was not what he expected.

The doctors there believed it was pointless to form a relationship with the patients

because they knew they would die at one point. Patch then decides to become a doctor and

enrolls at Virginia Medical University. He is dumbfounded by the patient care the university

teaches to aspiring doctors. He then makes the decision to open his home to people around him

who can’t afford medical care at hospitals and practices his version of what patient care should

look like. Altruism is applied to the movie Patch Adams because while at the mental hospital, he

did not get any help from the doctors there or much from his parents. He opened his own clinic

so he could give the help that other people need and show what he did not get in the mental

hospital.

Works Cited
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“Patch Adams - Gesundheit! Institute.” Gesundheit! Institute, 10 Feb. 2022,

www.patchadams.org/patch-adams.

“Patch Adams True Story Behind the Robin Williams Movie.” ChasingtheFrog.com,

www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/patchadams.php.