A Short Life

Jim Slotnick entered medical school in 1981 with his sights set on a career as a “country doctor,” catering to those with limited access to quality health care. Within twelve months, however, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. What followed 
was an odyssey of dealing with the health care system and its practitioners, the increasing limitations and challenges of a fatal disease and Jim’s own mortality staring him in the face. Through it all, he wrote. Jim’s stunningly compassionate, funny and hard hitting account of life will amaze you. A Short Life provides remarkable insight into being both a doctor and a patient, and is a simple, beautiful story of a young man growing up.

Live life and take nothing for granted. Those were the guiding principles of Jim Slotnick -- adventurous, baseball loving, chess playing, jazz and soul music aficionado. By the time Jim entered UCLA Medical School, at age 25, he had held jobs as far ranging as janitor, Little League umpire, morgue assistant, liquor store clerk, stockboy, carpet salesman, short order cook, film editor, and flower delivery boy, and lived a life of extraordinary experience with family, friends, and lovers. Jim entered medical school in 1981 with his sights set on a career as a “country doctor,” catering to those with limited access to quality health care. Within one year, he was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. What followed was an odyssey of dealing with the health care system and its practitioners, the increasing limitations and challenges of his disease, and his own mortality staring him in the face. Through it all, he wrote. Jim’s stunningly compassionate, laughing out loud funny, hard hitting account will amaze you. Through it all, he sought to make a real and positive difference. And that’s what he did.

Jim Slotnick was born in 1954 in Buffalo, New York. His family headed west to California in 1965, where he lived the Golden Dream — body surfing at the beach, delivering newspapers for pocket change and pitching for his high school baseball team. School took Jim east again, where he initially attended Middlebury College in Vermont, but the west coast’s siren song was too much to resist. After transferring to UC Berkeley for his second year of college, Jim eventually ended up at San Francisco State, where he pursued his passion for filmmaking. Although he never lost his love for movies, Jim ultimately decided that the best way he could make the kind of difference he wanted in the world was by becoming a doctor, providing services to those most in need. So that’s exactly what he did: Jim completed UCLA’s pre-med courses and gained admission to UCLA’s Medical School in 1981, regularly volunteering at The Los Angeles Free Clinic (now Saban Community Clinic) at the same time, serving the population he was most dedicated to. During his first year of medical school Jim came down with a set of symptoms 
that turned out to be caused by an aggressive brain tumor. Sadly, he wasn’t 
able to complete his course of study at UCLA. But he did finish an extraordinary autobiographical book, A Short Life, documenting his two-year battle with his illness. Jim died in 1983, within hours of finishing his book. In 1984 The Los Angeles Free Clinic initiated a summer Fellowship in Jim’s name, providing UCLA medical students with the chance to carry out the Clinic’s mission of delivering medical care to anyone in need, regardless of their ability to pay. Thirty years later, the Fellowship, and Jim’s spirit live on.