Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Cutting for Stone is the saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mother's death at birth then forsaken by their father, both choose to become medical doctors.

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates' proscription to physicians was to not “cut for stone,” referring to the temptation of physicians to respond to patients suffering kidney pain by operating to remove stones, even if lacking the necessary skills with the probability of causing more harm than good.