Name: Patient Care: Death and Life in the Emergency Room
Price: 25 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.6 (32 reviews)

Product Description


“A volume brimming with humanitarian lessons in medicine and life alike.” —Kirkus Reviews


"A generous, compassionate book about what it is to be human and what it is to care. Paul Seward writes in language so clear and compelling you can see straight through it and into the beating heart beneath." —Kate Cole–Adams, author of Anesthesia

Drawing on a career launched in the first days of the specialty of emergency medicine, Dr. Paul Seward takes the reader with him into the ER in his riveting memoir.

Told in fast–paced, stand–alone chapters that recall unforgettable medical cases,
Patient Care offers the fascination of medical mysteries, wrapped in the drama of living and dying. A snap judgment about a child nearly kills him, and a priest who may be having a heart attack refuses treatment. An asthmatic man develops air bubbles in his shoulders, and a pharmacist is haunted by a decision he makes.

But the book goes beyond these stories. Each chapter explores ethical questions that remind us of the full humanity of patients, nurses, coroners, pharmacists, and, of course, doctors. How do they care for strangers in their moments of crisis? How do they care for themselves?

Dr. Seward rejects doctor–as–God narratives to write frankly about moments of failure, and champions the role of his colleagues in health care. And, for all the moral dilemmas here, there is plenty of wit and humor, too. (See the patient who punches our doctor.) Readers of
Patient Care will find themselves thinking along with Dr. Seward: “What is the right thing to do? What would I do?”


Review


Praise for Patient Care

"As a respected physician for over 50 years, Dr. Seward regales the reader with slice–of–life vignettes that both illustrate and educate us about myriad aspects of medicine including both the physical and emotional ones. Not only is each case a bit different but there are often unusual complexities involved no matter how routine a set of symptoms appears to be. . . .
Patient Care: Death and Life in the Emergency Room is an unusual memoir readers will not forget. If one is unfamiliar with emergency medicine, it will be an educational experience told with enough real–life drama to keep one interested and may further an interest in the field." —
New York Journal of Books

"Recalling remarkable cases—and people—from a career launched in the first days of the emergency room (ER), Seward leads us through suspenseful diagnoses and explorations of anatomy. . . .
Patient Care is a reflection on a lifetime of cases—and the ethical, scientific and all–too–human complications that arose." —
Tacoma Weekly News

"Paul Seward’s half–century in the emergency room has yielded a bounty of stories illustrating the joys and frustrations of his trade. The 21 friendly, well–carved vignettes he shares in
Patient Care penetrate the mysteries of emergency medicine while underscoring the compassion, skill, and dedication of the modest practitioner/author. . . . Whether describing the obstinacy of patients, the brave faces worn by worried relatives, the technical aspects of repairing injured bodies, or the elation of helping potential catastrophes end well, Paul Seward fills his attractively written narrative with authoritative detail, strong emotion, and a precise sense of place." —
Washington Independent Review of Books

"Seward writes clearly and explains complicated medical conditions with skill and a sense of humor, providing the lay reader with enough information for a clear understanding of the situation and his actions without drowning the reader in details. . . . Seward educates and entertains all of us with his new book. Non–health care professionals will emerge with a better understanding of how the ER works and perhaps how to better navigate that complex and unexpected setting. Doctors will emerge with a excellent examples of how to better care for and care about their future patients. For it is in this caring partnership between patien

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