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Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science |  | Author: Atul Gawande
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $2.20
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Seller: source-up
Rating:  172 reviews
Sales Rank: 1995
Media: Paperback
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0312421702
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.092
EAN: 9780312421700
ASIN: 0312421702
Publication Date: April 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780312421700 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Amazon.com Review
Gently dismantling the myth of medical infallibility, Dr. Atul Gawande's Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science is essential reading for anyone involved in medicine--on either end of the stethoscope. Medical professionals make mistakes, learn on the job, and improvise much of their technique and self-confidence. Gawande's tales are humane and passionate reminders that doctors are people, too. His prose is thoughtful and deeply engaging, shifting from sometimes painful stories of suffering patients (including his own child) to intriguing suggestions for improving medicine with the same care he expresses in the surgical theater. Some of his ideas will make health care providers nervous or even angry, but his disarming style, confessional tone, and thoughtful arguments should win over most readers. Complications is a book with heart and an excellent bedside manner, celebrating rather than berating doctors for being merely human. --Rob Lightner
Product Description
In gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of medicine, offering an unflinching view from the scalpel’s edge. Complications lays bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is—uncertain, perplexing, and profoundly human.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 172
 A Must-Read for Every Doctor and anyone who has been, is, or will be a patient January 21, 2010
A. Richardson (Washington, DC)
I have read a lot of Dr. Gawande's research and his book "Complications" is a great guide for the layman to understand why things often go wrong in medicine. Dr. Gawande does a great job at de-jargonizing and unpacking the medical field so that anyone can understand why medicine is so complicated. This book doesn't necessarily contain the answers (see Gawande's books, "The Checklist Manifesto" and "Better" for solutions) but does a great job of laying out the problems. Medicine is complicated and doctors are mere humans. While it is easy to develop a system for dealing with machines, humans are dynamic and every situation is unique. No matter how much we may want to quantify a particular situation in medicine to lead us to the right answer, it just cannot be done, as every patient has his or her own set of circumstances and desires.
 interesting on several levels January 11, 2010
R. M. Williams (tucson, arizona USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
the author is a very good writer. pick up the book and skim for the anecdotal stories that form the central picture for each chapter. just enjoy them as an interesting observation about learning to be a surgeon. then read the last chapter "the case of the red leg", then decide if you want to read the whole book.
it is interesting on at least 3 levels. the first are these stories. the second is the context for the stories, the author's reason for seeing these events as important in his life/training. not only is he an observant storyteller, involving you emotional in his tale but he let's you see inside his head as to why this story and how does it fit. but as is usual what really interests me is this high level thinking--what makes a good surgeon, what makes a good medical system that finds out what is wrong with people and fixes it right. essentially the context of his experience of learning to be a surgeon in a hospital, the context of the second level.
take the last chapter. the story is about a lady with a really bad infected leg.a story well told, persuasive, interesting, emotional involving. it could end there, reader's digest style. but it doesn't because he writes for the new york times, which calls for a bit more thinking, thankfully. how did the system work, how did it almost not work right, you know when the medical system doesn't work right, people die. but it is this 3rd level, beyond constructive criticism of the system that fascinates me, how exactly did he know these particular bacteria infected the leg, and why did he push to demonstrate this knowledge?
the way he tells the story, he attributes it to that uneasy feeling brought on by a similar case in the recent past. but i think it's more than that. it is the idea that contrary to our dominate ideas of objective knowledge, all knowledge is subjective and is attached to a person, as polanyi stated personal knowledge. "we know more than we can say". it is training this intuitive, this up close personal who you are type vs what you can speak and consciously think about type that forms this top level. how you become a surgeon above and beyond thinking like a surgeon. neat, philosophy intersects with medicine.
New Yorker magazine contributor/physican writes like a dream! December 13, 2009
P. Villines (Baku)
Dr. Gawande is as likeable a physician as we're apt to encounter. He is able to put the reader by his side, and ON his side, in this sometimes uncomfortably realistic examination of the both the wonderment and failures of modern medicine.
Honest, Insightful, Compelling December 10, 2009
DJY51 (Westchester County, NY USA)
Dr. Gwande is brutally honest about his mistakes and the limits of medicine. He will guide you through the thought processes of physicians when they have incomplete data with which to make life altering decisions, and show you how given almost identical circumstances, doctors in different locations will have different diagnoses (i.e. you will be five times more likely to have back surgery recommended to you in Santa Barbara, Ca, then in The Bronx, NY).
Gwande raises ethical questions you won't oftentimes hear discussed. New residents have to learn how to operate, but shouldn't it be obvious that you won't get as good care from someone performing surgery for the first time that you would from an expert, even if the expert is at the resident's side? While this is necessary for the future of medicine, it is done at someone's expense.
I love reading Gwande's books. He doesn't hide behind his training, and he lets you know how uncertainty plagues him, and by extension, other doctors.
An Imperfect Science, An Incredible Book October 29, 2009
BreitGirl (Chicago, Illinois)
Doctors are trained to see things differently: to fix, to heal, to prevent, to listen, to guide, to solve. Amidst the successes of every doctor- in fact, despite and in conjunction with their successes the author would argue- are many uncertainties, inconsistencies, and mistakes that come with being human. The author puts himself in such a vulnerable position, making this book what I think is very brave, very real, very intimate, but also scary enough to make any public relations consultant cringe.
Having worked in the healthcare industry, I could relate easily to the author's stories. Even those without a background in science/healthcare would be able to easily appreciate these stories- they are very interesting and well written, and no medical knowledge is required (though those with it will have a deeper understanding). The only thing I wished for when I started reading was better referencing of research material and scientific articles throughout the book. Upon finishing the book I can see why it was written in this way- it reads more like a collection of short stories. Keeping all references and citations at the end keeps the book less cluttered and less intimidating.
Medicine is science, it is healthcare, it is politics. This book is an important glimpse at medicine through the eyes of one surgical resident and his experiences with patients, families, and colleagues. How he found time to have a family, pursue writing a book, write news columns, go through surgical residency/practice medicine practically all at once is beyond me. Maybe he will share his secrets in his next book. Until then, check this one out. You won't look at your doctor the same again, or at least you will hopefully ask more questions. Get a second opinion if think you need one, be a good patient, have patience, and remain in awe at the wonders that our doctors do on a daily basis.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 172
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