Book Review: The Surgeons Life and Death in a Top Heart Center

Published in 2007 and coming in at just under three hundred pages "The Surgeons Life and Death in a Top Heart Center" by Charles R. Morris is a book for anyone interested in medicine, heart surgery and the lives of surgeons in and outside of the hospital. The book also features De. Mehmet C. Oz and the work he did before he was known as America's doctor.

The setting is the state of the art Heart Surgery Center at Columbia- Presbyterian Hospital in New York. Morris was granted total and complete access to the staff and the patients along with the administrators over the course of a year. He became such a fixture on the scene that there were times when he blended in so well that he states he felt like he was a fly on the wall. The book is really divided into two sections. The first talks about the daily life of the surgeons and the patients that are served by Columbia - Presbyterian one of the topped ranked heart hospitals in the County. This is where former President Bill Clinton went when he required quadruple heart by-pass. The second section of the book talks about the challenges facing today's health care crisis and while the second part of the book does a very good job of describing the challenges and even offering some realistic and reasonable solutions it does not hold the readers attention like the first section.

The first section is the nitty gritty stuff of surgery. How surgeons are trained, the amount of time and energy one has to devote in order to be able to crack open a chest, remove and repair a heart and the absolute grace and dedication needed to ensure that all that can be done to allow the patient to leave the operating room alive is done day after day and patient after patient.

Morris introduces you to both the doctors who are trying to save and extend lives and their patients who are fighting to stay alive and regain their freedom and health. Sometimes the doctors are successful and other times patients are lost. One of the things that most impressed me in the book was the candor of the surgeons. They all have their egos but at the same time know that sometimes what allows one patient to live while another dies is luck or divine grace or something else that cannot be described.

This book will be enjoyed by anyone who is interested in how medicine is practiced in America today. Also anyone who is interested in going into this specialty should read this book to gain and understanding of the sacrifices that will have to be made while at the same time realizing the power they will have in changing the lives of not just their patients but also the lives of all who love their patients. Finally if you yourself or a loved one is facing a surgery this book will give you hope. The strides that have been made in heart surgery are almost beyond comprehension and the comfort you will receive knowing that the doctors who are caring for you believe in their work and so many of them are as dedicated to their patients as if the patient was a family member. The doctors in these pages know that they have been given great gifts and not one underestimates the responsibility that accompanies their individual talents.

A highly recommended read.