A memoir of over four decades working in the ER:“Fascinating and engrossing… brimming with humanitarian lessons in medicine and life alike.” —Kirkus Reviews
A Buzzfeed Best Book of the Year
A snap judgment about a child nearly has fatal consequences. A priest who may be having a heart attack refuses treatment. An asthmatic man develops air bubbles in his shoulders. A pharmacist is haunted by a decision he makes. Stories like these fill the pages of this memoir of a career that began in the earliest days of the emergency medicine field. In addition to recounting the drama, Dr. Paul Stewart also explores ethical questions that remind us of the full humanity of patients, nurses, coroners, pharmacists, and, of course, doctors. How do they care for strangers in their moments of crisis? How do they care for themselves?
Dr. Seward rejects doctor-as-God narratives to write frankly about moments of failure, and champions the role of his colleagues in health care. And for all the moral dilemmas here, there is plenty of wit and humor, too (for example, the patient who punched the author). Readers of Patient Care will find themselves moved, entertained, and occasionally wondering: What would I do?
“In the increasingly popular medical-memoir genre, this one stands out.”―Booklist
“A fascinating journey through a profession shrouded with mystery.”―Paul Ruggieri, MD, author of Confessions of a Surgeon
“A generous, compassionate book about what it is to be human and what it is to care…language so clear and compelling you can see straight through it and into the beating heart beneath.”—Kate Cole-Adams, author of Anesthesia
