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Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an…
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Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science (original 2002; edition 2003)

by Atul Gawande

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3,097844,335 (4.12)126
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.… (more)
Member:_mark_atwood
Title:Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
Authors:Atul Gawande
Info:Picador (2003), Paperback, 288 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:*****
Tags:loan:bethieee, medicine, non-fiction, essays, biography, science

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Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande (2002)

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» See also 126 mentions

English (83)  Dutch (1)  All languages (84)
Showing 1-5 of 83 (next | show all)
Very truthful, compassionate & fair. I found this a fascinating look behind the curtain. Doctors are human and make mistakes like everyone else, but there is room within systems to make things safer and better. Definitely recommended. ( )
  BBrookes | Dec 9, 2023 |
Outstanding, ( )
  RalphG | Sep 12, 2023 |
A clearly written, well-constructed book with: live examples and background research.
It peels back the mystique of medicine, reveals an awkward fact of much pioneering.
“We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line. ...” page 7
He demonstrated a personal interest in his patients, even visiting them at home.
( )
  GeoffSC | Aug 20, 2023 |
Somewhat dated stories, but the ideas about medicine are thought provoking. ( )
  cathy.lemann | Mar 21, 2023 |
Many physicians write memoirs and books about their craft, but very few produce works that are so incredibly useful in educating the average patient about the strengths and weaknesses of the modern healthcare system as it relates to actual hands-on patient care. Another honest, interesting, well-written, and enlightening book by Dr Gawande. ( )
  dele2451 | Jun 28, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 83 (next | show all)
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I was once on trauma duty when a young man about twenty was rolled in, shot in the buttock.
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As one surgeon told me, it is a rare but alarming thing to meet a surgeon without fear. "If you're not a little afraid when you operate," he said, "you're bound to do a patient a grave disservice."
Normally, people boarding a bus, plane, or train distribute themselves like repelling magnets, keeping a respectful, anonymous distance from one another and sharing seats only if they have to.
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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.

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Tökéletlen tudomány – Gawande doktor ezt állítja az orvoslásról. De azt sem hallgatja el, hogy maguk az orvosok sem tökéletesek; hibáznak, rosszul is döntenek olykor, s ez alól ő maga sem kivétel. A fiatal amerikai sebész krimiszerűen izgalmas, megkapóan őszintén elmondott történetekkel illusztrálja mindezt: betegekről, orvosokról s kettejük sajátos, semmi máshoz nem hasonlítható kapcsolatáról. A könyv segítségével az olvasó részese lesz az orvos és betege vívódásainak, élményszerűen szembesül a folytonos döntési helyzetek felelősségével és mindennapos feszültségével.
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