![]() In Part III, Gawande addresses the issue of uncertainty, an ever-daunting challenge in a profession where information is always imperfect. Sadly, these anecdotes often serve as reminders that what doctors can’t pin down they often dismiss, as when a man with incapacitating back pain was advised by specialists to see a shrink. ![]() Readers will feel for the pregnant woman whose nausea and vomiting could not be stopped no matter what antiemetic drug she was given-until her twins were born and that same night she was able to eat a hamburger with blue cheese and fries. With profound empathy, Part II chronicles medical mysteries. (To his credit, Gawande includes a tale of his own poor judgment in a medical emergency that fortunately ended happily.) Practice does make perfect, the author demonstrates hospitals specializing in hernia repair, for example, maximize their efficiency for the greater benefit of patients. Part I contains chilling stories of medical errors, some the near-inevitable results of young docs learning their craft by practicing on live patients, some due to the burnout or depression of seasoned specialists. A gem-like collection of essays on medicine by eighth-year surgical resident, Harvard Med graduate, Rhodes scholar, and New Yorker staff writer Gawande, himself the son of physicians. ![]()
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