In gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of medicine, offering an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge. Complications lays bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is--uncertain, perplexing, and profoundly human.
Gently dismantling the myth of medical infallibility, Dr. Atul Gawande's Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science is essential reading for anyone involved in medicine--on either end of the stethoscope. Medical professionals make mistakes, learn on the job, and improvise much of their technique and self-confidence. Gawande's tales are humane and passionate reminders that doctors are people, too. His prose is thoughtful and deeply engaging, shifting from sometimes painful stories of suffering patients (including his own child) to intriguing suggestions for improving medicine with the same care he expresses in the surgical theater. Some of his ideas will make health care providers nervous or even angry, but his disarming style, confessional tone, and thoughtful arguments should win over most readers. Complications is a book with heart and an excellent bedside manner, celebrating rather than berating doctors for being merely human. --Rob Lightner

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

A fine, examined look into such a controversial field:

The author wrote many of these for The New Yorker and other publications; what is even more remarkable, however, is that he wrote these essays when he was beginning his career as a surgeon.
Surgery is among the most controversial, and difficult fields in medicine. The risks are so high, the complications so abounding.
I began reading this book with a jaded and jaundiced eye, hoping to find validation for my subjective impression of a field gone awry.
Intead, I had greater respect for the... more info

Medicine - Mysterious and Uncertain Science:

Similar to his other book titled Better, Dr. Gawande divided his book into three sections: Fallibility, Mystery and Uncertainties. As much as I enjoyed reading the five fascinating stories about medical mysteries (Mysteries about Friday the Thirteenth, pain, blushing nausea and food obsession), I found the two other sections more stimulating and inspiring. Speaking from his own experience (many of them gruesome and daunting), he successfully convinced his audience that medicine is full of uncertainties and... more info

great book for medical and non-medical professionals!:

Excellent book on the imperfections of medicine. Keeps the reader interrested through the entire book - it's almost sad when finished...

Great book on surgery:

Atul Gawande gratefully takes the reader to the back of the OR, a place open for a few, yet intriguing for many. Dr. Gawande is extremely frank and poignant, as he describes actual cases from his own surgical practice. He admits that cutting someone open for the first time is hell, praises surgery which gives chance to obese people, wonders about doctor's intuition, and remains human in every case.
As always, Atul Gawande is not just writing about medicine; this book reaches far beyond the realm of the... more info

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