Complications
Atul Gawande"I don't know if Atul Gawande was born to be a surgeon - I very much suspect so - but he was certainly born to write.This wise and exciting account of life as a surgical resident ... perfectly captures the wonder and fearful responsibility that comes with cutting people open in the hope of making them whole again. " - Bill Bryson
Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, and the stakes are high, yet decisions must be made. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur and why good surgeons go bad. He also shows us what happens when medicine comes up against the inexplicable: an architect with incapacitating back pain for which there is no physical cause; a young woman with nausea that won't go away; a television newscaster whose blushing is so severe that she cannot do her job. Gawande offers a richly detailed portrait of the people and the science, even as he tackles the paradoxes and imperfections inherent in caring for human lives.
"Ever wondered how realistic ER is? Then read Gawande's superb book. The truth, you will find, is far more compelling, though the endings are never as neat ... Gawande makes the scenes far more dramatic than television ever can. He is a first-class writer. Scotland on Sunday Written as tautly as a thriller." - The Observer