He optioned the book via Al Zuckerman's Writer's House for what Zuckerman characterizes now as a steal, made a pitch to Universal and secured the interest of comedy director Mike Shadyac ( Liar, Liar). The movie deal took place at least 10 years later, at a meeting of the hip entrepreneur invitation-only Social Ventures Network, where Sperling and Mailman met up by chance with M*A*S*H co-star Mike Farrell, who had heard of Patch Adams at the time of Gesundheit!'s publication. Mailman introduced Adams to Sperling, who found him a coauthor, Maureen Mylander, and a book was born. Mailman thought people would want to read about this 6-foot, 5-inch ponytailed man who called himself a pie in the face of the American medical establishment-his goal is free medical care for all-and how he came to hold his unorthodox views. How did such a project find its way to print? And how did it get to Universal?Īccording to publisher Ehud Sperling, who started Inner Traditions 23 years ago and is just now enjoying his first Hollywood sale, Gesundheit! was written at the suggestion of one Josh Mailman of the philanthropic Mailman family from New York, who met Patch Adams at an ersatz-hippie celebration called the Rainbow Gathering. The Universal movie soon to be released as Patch Adams starring Robin Williams was born as a book called Gesundheit! published by a small Vermont house and written by a doctor who dresses as a clown, doesn't charge his patients and told the architect designing his new health center in West Virginia to make it silly, with trap doors, eyeball-shaped exam rooms and chandeliers to swing on. Adams's positive vision and plan for the future is an inspiration for those concerned with the inaccessibility of affordable, quality health care. All author royalties are used to fund The Gesundheit Institute, a 40-bed free hospital in West Virginia. In his frequent lectures at medical schools and international conferences, Adams's irrepressible energy cuts through the businesslike facade of the medical industry to address the caring relationship between doctor and patient that is at the heart of true medicine. Whether it means putting on a red clown nose for sick children or taking a disturbed patient outside to roll down a hill with him, Adams does whatever is necessary to help heal. Impossible? Not for those who know and work with Patch. Adams is the founder of the Gesundheit Institute, a home-based medical practice that has treated more than 15,000 people for free, and that is now building a full-scale hospital that will be open to anyone in the world free of charge. Meet Patch Adams, M.D., a social revolutionary who has devoted his career to giving away health care.
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