Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science | Atul Gawande

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science | Atul Gawande | The Best Doctors Are Fallible

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Complications: A S...

	Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science Atul Gawande Metropolitan Books, 2002 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 156 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Captivating Read!

I am considering a career change to medicine and have recently undergone several surgeries myself. This was an eye-opening book that says what you know deep down, but that doctors usually will not admit: They may try their best, but they do not have all the answers and they do make mistakes. It's thoughtfully written, and full of compassion for his patients. It made me wish Dr. Gawande was my doctor. Every doctor should read to not lose sight of the patient perspective, and every patient should read to understand why they cannot expect perfection from medicine.

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The Best Doctors Are Fallible

This is the sobering message of Atul Gawande's excellent book. A writer for the "New Yorker" as well as a practicing surgeon (how does he do it?), Gawande reflects on his profession as it really is--human beings trying to help other human beings.

Gawande makes a persuasive case, on the one hand, for the routinization of medicine. He cites the amazing record of a hospital in Toronto which does only hernia operations. The goal is not a high success rate, but perfection, and the doctors there do hundreds of hernia repairs in a year--more than a general surgeon does in a lifetime. But Gawande also points out that fallibility is the price humans pay for being instinctive, for having that sixth sense that all of us often ignore at our peril. It was this sense that saved the life of a young patient who appeared to have a simple bacterial infection--having seen a far more deadly form of it recently, Gawande urged a biopsy, and against all odds he was right. An over-conscientious resident? Was he overdiagnosing? Performing an unnecessary, costly test? That's what we'd say if he had been wrong.

Gawande writes with a humility and sensitivity that the stereotype of the typical surgeon doesn't have. We owe it to ourselves to be well-informed as consumers of medical services--but that needn't be burdensome or boring. I highly recommend "Complications."

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Realistic and Entertaining

I bought this book a year back but started reading just a month ago and finished it in no time. The theme of the book is to underscore medicine being an imperfect science. I hope all people read this book and understand that medicine is an imperfect science and the result of any surgical or medical intervention may not be what they expect. Unfortunate result doesn't always mean doctors were negligent.
The first chapter highlights the dilemma of allowing novice trainees to practice the procedures to become experts. While no patient wants to be treated by a trainee resident how shall we get doctors for the future?
I particularly liked the chapters on impaired physicians, 'When Good Doctors Go Bad.'. He depicts the life of an orthopedic surgeon who suffers from depression and is forced to leave the practice. And there is very little support for the impaired physician from the hospital they work for, the state they work in. A real tragedy.
The chapters on Annual Surgeons' conference - Nine Thousand Surgeons, The computer and the Hernia Factory, The pain Perplex are readable and very informative but not as dramatic as 'Full Moon Friday the Thirteenth.'
The 'Dead Baby Mystery' depicts how criminals can take advantage of mysterious facts of medicine where in a woman killed several of her babies and claimed her babies died from 'Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.'
The last chapter 'The Case of the Red Leg' is written like a suspense story.
I couldn't put this book down. The writing flows nicely, the human drama is depicted like a TV series based in the hospital setting and it is backed by scientific data just enough to make us believe, nay, live through the incidents.
My only grievance is while Dr. Gawande works every time in the OR with anesthesiologists why did he write so little about the imperfect science of anesthesiology?
I hope may be he will in the future.

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Intelligently written.

If you have ever wondered about this body of yours and about what goes on in the minds of Doctors who treat the many ailments of this body of yours,this is certainly the book for you. Never has a book of Non-fiction managed to be such a riveting read.

Atul Gawande has written with intelligence, honesty, and with extreme respect and tenderness towards the many people that he introduces the reader to. Many of the complicated procedures of surgery are described in the most understandable language,that a person with no medical training such as I , feel very smart now!!
I thank Gawande for this wonderful book, and hope to read his " Better" soon.

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A Great Read !!!

This book has such great detail thta you feel that you are right there and involved. The author is really good at defining medical terminology and, what others might not understand. Very good, if you interested in the medical field.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

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