eShop USA > Books > Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.00Our Price: $11.20 You Save: $2.80 (20%)Prices subject to change.
Customer Reviews
Rating:  - Not that extreme
Going into this book I envisioned many extreme surgical cases to overwhelm me. That wasn't the case though. This book only gives cases from one persons viewpoint as examples of the learning process for those in the medical profession. This book is really trying to gain a bigger audience than it deserves by playing up the complications of surgery when it is really more of a learning aid. I enjoyed it but was somewhat let down.
Rating: - Vignettes On The Scalpel's Edge
Being in the medical field, I found myself pretty engrossed in Atul Gawande's COMPLICATIONS. But even if you're not in medicine, there's no reason you shouldn't pick up the book. Focusing on both sides of the scalpel (those that get cut as well as those that do the cutting), the vignettes sketched out here are hit upon with compassion, thoughtfulness, and razor-sharp telling ("We have taken [medicine] to be both more perfect than it is and less extraordinary than it can be.")
Gawande holds back nothing in his narrative. One chapter will discuss the evolution of a surgeon and how perilous and dangerous it can be ("Everyone wants a surgeon with experience, but how does a new surgeon become the veteran?"), while the next will look at how effective specialized medicine is (a hospital that does ONLY hernia operations and how incredibly successful those surgeons are).
The most frightening portion of the book -- for me -- was the discussion on dangerous doctors (chapter 5: When Good Doctors Go Bad). When MD's get older and can't function as well, or get burned out, or simply can't keep up with new medical technology, there's no system in place to remove them. The AMA, local affiliate groups, none have the sole power to remove a doctor until it is often too late for the patients (Gawande's examples are horrifying, showing us an orthopedist who had more law suits pending against him than patients in his practice, and still he practiced and operated).
The big flaw with this "novel" is that it isn't novel at all. It is a compilation of short stories without a core. Whipping back and forth between medical superstitions in one chapter to the study of subjective pain the next, there's no rhyme or reason to the placement of chapters within the book. This isn't all bad, though, just something the reader should be aware of before digging in.
Regardless, it is an eye-opener to those in the medical profession and those who are patients within it. Gawande is as sharp with his pen as he is with his scalpel. And he spares no one; from the physicians within his own cadre, to the misconceptions patients hold for their care givers.
Complications should be required reading by all physicians, past, present and, especially, future simply because it is brutally honest and keeps its perspective tightly woven toward patient care.
Rating:  - A wonderful book: thoughtful, insightful, and clearly written
I cannot recommend this book too highly for anyone interested in medical practice as a clinician, future clinician, present or future patient, or friend or loved one of a patient. In other words, just about everyone. I am using it in my Medical Ethics (philosophy) course because each of the essays raises important bioethical questions. We are also using it for an educational session in the Pediatric Ethics Committee of a major teaching hospital.
My only regret in assigning Gawande's essays in a university course is that all of the other readings, even the best written, may seem a bit dull by comparison. Gawande is a master story-teller, and most of the essays tell compelling stories. More than anything I've read, they give the reader a feel for the drama of medical decision-making. But they do more than that because Gawande uses each narrative as a springboard for raising larger issues and, in many cases, offering insightful and compassionate suggestions for how to address them.
Gawande's essays are, in spite of the ultra-serious subject, a joy to read. They are models of clarity and among the best-written essays I've ever read (and I've been teaching over 30 years).
Gawande presents the medical profession realistically without sugar-coating. Medical errors and plain negligence are not ignored. But in the end one gains a realistic appreciation of the medical profession, of the frequent need to make life-and-death choices without the comfort of definite evidence, and of the extent and limits of patient autonomy.
Rating:  - take it with a grain of salt
This book has gotten rave reviews but I was not so impressed. Dr. Gawande describes his training in a large academic medical center where every test, scan and specialist is available at the snap of ones fingers. Mobs of specialists descend on complicated patients like swarms of locust. Dr. Gawande describes one anxiety filled period time when he has to wait a full 20 minutes for one such specialist to appear. This is not how most medicine is practiced. I think Dr. Gawande should do a shift in a rural emergency room to learn what real uncertainty is all about.
Rating: - Should be required reading!
I really applaud Dr. Gawande for taking so much mystery out of health care. I've always felt that it was important to be a partner in my own health treatment, and I guess I would've considered myself an "educated consumer." But this book made me realize just how much I DIDN'T know about doctors, surgery, and so many other aspects of medical care. The way it's written, this book is an easy read... easy to pick up and read in bite-sized pieces. But, on a much deeper level, it gives you a much greater understanding of how doctors are trained, how they think, and how they're just as human (and fallible) as everyone else. On one hand, this book is a scary "wake-up call" for patients. On the other, it's an incredibly empowering and educational tool. Anyone who receives medical care should be required to read this book!
Featured Listmania!
| |
 |
