I'm looking for a book...?

...that I read a while ago. Unfortunately I don't remember a whole lot about it, it was about a man, he was a doctor, and he had some how come about having the caduceus of Hermes (or Mercury, I'm not sure how he's referred to in the book.) This man uses the caduceus to heal people. The only other details I remember are that he has some kind of with his sister in front of a fireplace, and something about a woman (I believe his mother,) taking sleeping pills with alcohol. I know that this is very vague, but it was some years ago and it's all I remember. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.