by Sanjay Gupta
First published 2009
Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores how modern medicine saves patients once considered beyond help. He examines cases that would have meant certain death two decades ago: an unborn child with a deadly heart condition, a skier trapped beneath ice for sixty minutes, a brain surgery patient doctors labeled a vegetable. Gupta shows how a new generation of physicians refuses to accept that any life cannot be saved. They rescue patients from extended cardiac arrest, brain death, and hour-long periods without breathing. The neurosurgeon and CNN medical correspondent draws on actual patient stories and current research to explain how doctors are changing what we know about human survival. He covers therapeutic hypothermia treatments for stroke and heart attack victims, surgical procedures performed on fetuses still in the womb, and studies of animal hibernation that could help battlefield medics treat wounded soldiers. These medical advances blur the traditional boundary between life and death in ways that challenge long-held beliefs about when someone has truly died.
Genres: science, medical, non-fiction, technology
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: medical-drama, scientific-breakthroughs
304 pages · Kindle Edition · Grand Central Life & Style