Doctors On The Edge

"Doctors on the Edge exposes some of the hardest decisions to be made in a profession in which bodies are vulnerable and souls are laid bare. This is the account of doctors who are faced with wrenching moral dilemmas, thrust upon them uninvited and unexpected. Sometimes complementary and sometimes conflicting - law, medicine, and morality intrude on the daily practice of medicine. In stories that often include life-and-death choices, doctors maneuver through frightening ambiguities, subjectivity, and the essential principles of medical ethics to come to difficult conclusions."--BOOK JACKET.

Genius on the Edge introduces the public to the man who revolutionized modern surgery at the same time it weaves a compelling biography with a fascinating tour of American medicine at the turn of the 19th century. Coming of age in the wake of the Civil War, William Stewart Halsted became a doctor in an era when surgery was a dangerous game of chance. By the time of his death in 1922, Halsted had transformed surgery and had pioneered techniques and procedures that are routine in today's operating rooms. But this came at a high price-drug addiction and alienation from his friends and family. His enormous professional accomplishments, eccentric personal behavior, and lifetime of drug addiction defy conventional wisdom. In the first comprehensive portrait of this complex and indisputably brilliant man, author Gerald Imber-a renowned plastic surgeon himself-takes readers to the upper echelons of society in New York City and Baltimore, blending tales of Gilded Age decadence with captivating accounts from the front lines of medical discovery. Combining the historical atmosphere of The Alienist with an unconventional hero, Genius on the Edge celebrates one of history's most daring doctors. Book jacket.

A “radical” approach to holistic healing that examines the root causes and cures for ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer, and heart attacks • Offers cutting-edge detoxification and draining therapies to address the tremendous chemical onslaught of modern life • Explains the profound health problems caused by dental amalgams, vaccinations, antibiotics, cosmetics With the historic use of toxic mercury amalgam fillings, excessive courses of antibiotics, damaging childhood vaccines, and the many industrial pollutants and chemicals that have been spread into our air, water, and food over the past century, general holistic health guidelines are simply no longer adequate for most people. Only through radical measures--that is, getting to the true root or underlying cause of disease--can effective healing occur. In Radical Medicine, naturopathic physician Louisa Williams describes how to treat these and other modern-day “obstacles to cure,” in order to ensure against future degenerative disease and achieve the optimal health that is our birthright. Examining the many health problems triggered by dental amalgams and poor dentistry, Dr. Williams explains that our teeth are focal points for health issues that arise elsewhere in the body. She explores the impact of vaccinations, the excessive use of antibiotics, and the chemical-laden products used as health and beauty aids--which are linked to Alzheimer’s disease, heart attacks, and breast and other cancers--and provides information on cutting-edge detoxification treatments as well as drainage and nutritional therapies. A practical guide for practitioners and patients alike, Radical Medicine offers a wealth of holistic, natural therapies for overcoming what is poisoning us and our world so we can achieve optimal health and well-being.

Suzanne Brockmann has taken romantic suspense by storm with her action-packed thrillers. Now she has written the most gripping novel of her career–an unforgettable story of an explosive hostage situation in which two people are caught between the call of duty and the lure of destiny. Her passion is flying. As one of the best helicopter pilots in the naval reserves, Lieutenant Teri Howe is strong, dedicated, and highly skilled–until a past mistake surfaces, jeopardizing everything she’s worked for. Rock steady Senior Chief Stan Wolchonok has made a career of tackling difficult challenges. So it’s no surprise when he comes to Teri’s aid, knowing that his personal code of honor–and perhaps his heart–will be at risk. But when a jet carrying an American senator’s daughter is hijacked, Stan’s unflinching determination and Teri’s steadfast courage are put to the ultimate test. The rescue mission will be daring and dangerous. But somewhere between peril and resolution, the line between friends and lovers begins to blur, pushing both their lives over the edge. . . .

In Awe of Being Human: A Doctor's Stories from the Edge of Life and Death is a physician's reflection on living, healing and dying set amidst the challenging world of hospitals, the medical professionals who work in them, and the ever-present mystery of life and death. Filled with heroic tales of the children and adults who have been the author's patients, together with descriptions of the soul-stretching experiences that doctors undergo in seeking to help people whose lives are at stake, the book delivers a tender and powerfully positive message about what it means to be human.

A brilliant and courageous doctor reveals, in gripping accounts of true cases, the power and limits of modern medicine. Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This book is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is -- complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human. Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, 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. At once tough-minded and humane, Complications is a new kind of medical writing, nuanced and lucid, unafraid to confront the conflicts and uncertainties that lie at the heart of modern medicine, yet always alive to the possibilities of wisdom in this extraordinary endeavor. Complications is a 2002 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.

Get to know the eccentric alien known as the Doctor in this “out-of-this-world read for both Classic and New Who fans” (Library Journal). From his beginnings as a crotchety, anti-heroic scientist in 1963 to his current place in pop culture as the mad and dangerous monster-fighting savior of the universe, the character of Doctor Who has metamorphosed in his many years on television. And yet the questions about him remain the same: Who is he? Why does he act the way he does? What motivates him to fight evil across space and time? The Doctors Are In is a guide to television’s most beloved time traveler from the authors of Who Is the Doctor and Who’s 50. This is a guide to the Doctor himself—who he is in his myriad forms, how he came to be, how he has changed (within the program itself and behind the scenes) . . . and why he’s a hero to millions.

Bill Hanson reveals to us the face of medicine as it will be in ten to fifteen years from now. Profiled in many science periodicals for the innovations he's helped spearhead, Hanson delivers a unique perspective on the human dimension behind the revolution.

This timely book focuses on the work, well-being and lives of doctors during a period of constant change and crisis in the National Health Service in England This book shows how GPs are responding to their changing roles in a changing society; and how such responses may be understood in a context of whole life histories as well as within the norms of medical culture. Doctors, as a profession, have tended, for many reasons, to hide behind a professional curtain in what can be a very 'male' world. Some matters--surrounding the emotional well-being of doctors--are hard for doctors to talk about in this world where, too often, they have been taught to cope, like 'good men should'. The book reveals the emotional problems doctors face and provides space for them to tell their stories of struggles to become more authentic, and reflective as well as 'effective' practitioners. Included are illuminating insights into what is a deeply gendered world in which many women doctors feel torn between caring at work and for their families, and where men can be absent from 'women's work', at home and in the surgery. It is also a culture too where racism still pervades attitudes towards 'minority' doctors and where emotional understandings have tended to be disparaged as 'soft' in the name of a harder science.

A lively, accessible, and fully illustrated guide to the history of medicine, from ancient practices to cutting edge innovations. Clifford Pickover continues his popular series that includes The Physics Book and The Math Book with this volume chronicling the advancement of medicine in 250 entertaining, illustrated landmark events. Touching on such diverse subspecialties as genetics, pharmacology, neurology, sexology, and immunology, Pickover intersperses “obvious” historical milestones—the Hippocratic Oath, general anesthesia, the Human Genome Project—with unexpected and intriguing topics like “truth serum,” the use of cocaine in eye surgery, and face transplants.