{"id":21211,"date":"2019-09-04T10:39:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T14:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=21211"},"modified":"2019-09-04T10:39:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T14:39:47","slug":"deadline-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/deadline-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadline Doctor: Kristi Vissage Scruggs '03"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The year is 2030. The government has seized complete control of the health care system. And treatment has become dehumanized for the sake of efficiency.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Kristi<\/a><\/p>\n

One troubled reporter \u00a0<\/span>uncovers a dangerous conspiracy beneath it all, embarking on a shocking and equally chilling search for the truth.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the world of Kristi Scruggs\u2019s What They Don\u2019t Know<\/em>. Scruggs successfully published the medical thriller (her first book) in June 2017, which she wrote amidst her full-<\/span>time job as a hospitalist and now outpatient doctor in Raleigh, N.C. \u2014 not <\/span>to mention the births of her two sons, Henry and Jack.<\/p>\n

Despite having her hands full with a growing family and demanding career, Scruggs was inspired by her experience in the medical field, and she made writing a book a top priority. She became especially determined after reading the memoir When Breath Becomes Air<\/em> by neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, an intimate reflection penned in his last years fighting stage IV lung cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the motivation I needed,\u201d Scruggs said. \u201cYou know, a lot of people talk about writing a book, but not a lot of people actually write a book and publish it. You\u2019re not promised tomorrow, so I figured I needed to make this happen while I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a doctor, author, mother and wife, things can seem overwhelming at times\u00a0for Scruggs. But her understanding of balancing work, family and creativity has a healthy dose of confidence and realistic expectation: \u201cEverywhere I look, someone is doing a better job than me at something. But I try to remind myself that no one\u2019s doing life exactly how I am. No one\u2019s doing \u2018me\u2019 better.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Scruggs is focusing on her outpatient work, often visiting and treating elderly patients in their homes, a far cry from the futuristic and machine-<\/span>like treatments What They Don\u2019t Know\u00a0<\/em>imagines. \u201cWe do most of our care in the homes,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s really great because it\u2019s mostly elderly folks who can\u2019t get out \u2014 they\u2019re very appreciative, <\/span>and their families are very appreciative.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her personal and professional life is keeping her busy, Scruggs is excited about the future for her writing: \u201cPeople come to me now asking, \u2018Oh, it was such a good book! Do you have a sequel you\u2019re writing?\u2019 So, that\u2019s definitely very validating.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The year is 2030. The government has seized complete control of the health care system. And treatment has become dehumanized for the sake of efficiency. One troubled reporter \u00a0uncovers a dangerous conspiracy beneath it all, embarking on a shocking and equally chilling search for the truth. Welcome to the world of Kristi Scruggs\u2019s What They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":21212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[286,998,1170,1469,3253],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-21211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumniprofiles","tag-author","tag-doctor","tag-fall-2019-alumni-profiles","tag-health-care","tag-what-they-dont-know"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/Krisitne-Scruggs_027-X4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21211"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}