Free Refills is the harrowing tale of a Harvard-trained medical doctor run horribly amok through his addiction to prescription medication, and his recovery.
Dr. Peter Grinspoon seemed to be a total success: a Harvard-educated M.D. with a thriving practice; married with two great kids and a gorgeous wife; a pillar of his community. But lurking beneath the thin veneer of having it all was an addict fueled on a daily boatload of prescription meds. When the police finally came calling--after a tip from a sharp-eyed pharmacist--Grinspoon's house of cards came tumbling down fast. His professional ego turned out to be an impediment to getting clean as he cycled through recovery to relapse, his reputation, family life, and lifestyle in ruins. What finally moves him to recover and reclaim life--including working with other physicians who themselves are addicts--makes for inspiring reading.
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“Dr. Grinspoon bravely lays his complex soul bare as he tumbles from Harvard star doctor to addicted criminal. In this deeply affecting ride through the contradictions of addiction, we cringe at his arrogance, resentment, and self-justification while loving his compassion, commitment, and gratitude. We laugh at his cynical disdain for the simplistic platitudes and punitive inanity of the recovery world, but feel his pain as he learns humility and permits his best self to emerge. It’s a process of discovery I hope to encourage in my patients, and provides hope without sugar-coating. This is an important book for doctors and patients that blurs the boundaries because it is so fundamentally human.”
— Dr. Mark Green, addiction specialist at Psych Garden
“In Free Refills, Grinspoon takes us down into the special hell that is addiction—in his case it was a raging addiction to opiates that, conveniently, he could write his own prescriptions for. With sharp, dark wit, Grinspoon maintains his sense of humor in the face of near defeat, as he struggles to get (and stay) clean while his life comes apart at the seams. Free Refills is a self-deprecating, brutally honest, and surprisingly hilarious read. You can’t help but root for the good doctor.”
— Dan Lyons, author of DisruptedBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Peter Grinspoon, MD, currently practices as a primary care physician at an inner-city clinic in Boston and is on staff at Mass General Hospital. He teaches medicine at Harvard Medical School, and today he is proudly nine years clean.
Kiff VandenHeuvel, voice talent and audiobook narrator, is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is an alumni of the Second City comedy theater. He is an accomplished improviser and sketch comedy director, and he teaches voice-over, improv, and directing at Second City Hollywood. He has appeared in hundreds of television and radio commercials and is well known in the video game community as the voice of Zachary Hale Comstock in Bioshock: Infinite.