Complications

Atul Gawande’s Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science is a WOW book.  For those of us who are queasy at the sight of blood or the thought of a needle ready to enter our blood stream, this is a book that reminds us that doctors are human.  As patients, we should not expect doctors to know all as science is truly “trial and error,” much more than we really would think.  Gawande chronicles his early career telling real life stories of hunches he had, that were right and also those that were wrong, interviews with doctors who went “bad” and of the mysteries that we never can really explain, i.e. the woman who had cancer throughout her body, yet a year later was still alive.  Stuff happens that we can’t explain.  The book is broken into three sections: fallibility, yes doctors make mistakes; mystery, dealing with queasiness to perplexing pain; and finally the last section, uncertainty – how should we address a disease that we just don’t have enough information?  Gawande’s examples were “spot on” and he in fact gave me a greater sense of appreciation for the things that doctors do, especially in light of not having all the information.  There are times that acting quickly is a necessity, even when you can’t get more information.  He also gave some history into why they do autopsy’s and how that law has been changed over the years.  The biggest change in medicine during the past thirty years is the fact that patients are now given a “Bill of Rights” – you can make your own decision on how you want to be treated.  This is a far cry from the days where doctors said “here is how we will do it.”  While I thought I’d have a hard time getting through this book, I really enjoyed it and would highly suggest it for any students thinking about a career in medicine.  We all deserve to think through our options for illness and how to be treated.  When we commit to a course of therapy, it is amazing what the mind can do.