The novel follows a group of medical interns at a fictionalized version of Beth Israel Hospital over the course of a year in the early 1970s, focusing on the psychological harm and dehumanization caused by their residency training.

Basch is poorly prepared for the grueling hours and the sudden responsibilities with limited guidance from senior attending physicians.

Basch survives the rotation with Jo by claiming to perform numerous tests and treatments on the "gomers" while doing nothing to treat them.

He has adulterous trysts with various nurses and social service workers (nicknamed the "Sociable Cervix"), and his relationship with his girlfriend Berry suffers.

Basch secretly euthanizes a patient called Saul the leukemic tailor, whose illness had gone into remission but was back in the hospital in incredible pain and begging for death.

The book takes place during the Watergate scandal, and follows such events as the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew and Richard Nixon.

A 2019 short essay by Shem[2] and an accompanying online documentary[3] document the origins of the book and the characters upon which it is based.

JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) has a distinct collection of hundreds of articles titled "Less Is More" that discuss multiple areas of medicine where standard interventions seem to hurt patients.

It starred Charles Haid as The Fat Man, Tim Matheson as Roy, and featured Bess Armstrong, Ossie Davis, Sandra Bernhard, and Michael Richards in supporting roles.

[8][9] The TV medical sitcom-drama Scrubs features numerous references to The House of God, which was reading material for some of the show's writers.