Do no harm stories of life, death, and brain surgery

"What is it like to be a brain surgeon? How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut into the stuff that creates thought, feeling, and reason? How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially lifesaving operation when it all goes wrong? In neurosurgery, mo...

Full description

Main Author: Marsh, Henry, 1950- (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2015.
Edition: First U.S. edition.
Subjects:
Summary: "What is it like to be a brain surgeon? How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut into the stuff that creates thought, feeling, and reason? How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially lifesaving operation when it all goes wrong? In neurosurgery, more than in any other branch of medicine, the doctor's oath to "do no harm" holds a bitter irony. Operations on the brain carry grave risks. Every day, leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh must make agonizing decisions, often in the face of great urgency and uncertainty. If you believe that brain surgery is a precise and exquisite craft, practiced by calm and detached doctors, this gripping, brutally honest account will make you think again. With astonishing compassion and candor, Marsh reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets, and the moments of black humor that characterize a brain surgeon's life. Do No Harm provides unforgettable insight into the countless human dramas that take place in a busy modern hospital. Above all, it is a lesson in the need for hope when faced with life's most difficult decisions."--From publisher's website.
Item Description: "First published in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson [in 2014]"--Title page verso.
Physical Description: x, 277 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN: 9781250065810 (hardcover)
125006581X (hardcover)
Author Notes:

Henry Marsh is a neurosurgeon who authored the memoir Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery which won the PEN/Ackerley Prize 2015. The prize in the amout of £3000 (A$6115) is awarded to the author of a notable work of memoir or autobiography.

(Bowker Author Biography)