Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery, by Henry Marsh. Thomas Dunne Books, 2014

“Do no harm” is paraphrased in the Hippocratic Oath that medical students are all exposed to first thing. It’s the common principal in all medicine, but is especially stressed in neurosurgery, where the possibility for harm is so high. Henry Marsh has been a top neurosurgeon in Great Britain for many years and shares his stories of the trade here.

Each chapter is named for and explores the treatment of a different neurological problem; meningioma, pituitary adenoma, infarct. Each chapter features a different patient; we see how the patient came to Marsh, how the operation went, and sometimes we see how they fared. Not always; sometimes they are whisked way back to the hospital that referred them, rather them leaving them under the care of the surgeon. So there are times that the author had no idea how they ultimately turned out.

The descriptions of the problems and the way they are treated fascinated me, but beware if you are squeamish- the author describes things pretty vividly. But his book is not just about operations; it’s also about his own life, the about the NHS system in England. The system limits not just patient care but the hours doctors can work, which can make arranging long operations difficult. New doctors don’t have time enough to learn all they should. Marsh describes taking this out on nurses, anesthesiologists, clerks, and more- while an empathic, caring, man with patients, he seems to have been an ass to those he worked with at times- and admits it.

I couldn’t put this book down. It was like reading a series of exciting stories, watching Marsh’s expertise and character grow. And I love a good medical description. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything, not just this book- Amazon will give me a few cents. This in no way influenced my review. 

The Heart Healers: This Misfits, Mavericks, and Rebels Who Created the Greatest Medical Breakthroughs of Our Lives, by James Forrester, M.D. St. Martin’s Press, 2015

Until sometime mid-20^th century, the heart was considered off limits to the surgeon. No really good medicinal interventions existed- digitalis can only go so far. Heart disease of any sort- inborn, caused by injury, or created by the ravages of time and beef- was considered a fatal diagnosis. Then a few doctors and surgeons took chances. Catheters were threaded through veins to the heart. Hearts were stopped and restarted with electricity. The blood flow was bypassed from the heart and aerated- at first by running it through monkey lungs (that one didn’t work well). Artificial heart valves were developed, and a method of delivering them through the artery rather than cracking open the chest. Stents to open arteries came along, as did drugs to lower cholesterol to slow the development of atherosclerosis. Clots were busted and pacemakers inserted. All of this has happened in a relatively short time; mere decades. The cardiologists who developed these methods all went beyond what anyone thought was possible at the time, and sometimes their first attempts left the patients dead. But they tried again and again until the problem was solved.

The author, a cardiologist himself, writes fluently about the subject. He makes it as interesting as a thriller novel; he has the ability to give technical details and make them easy to understand. He never gets bogged down; the doctors and the patients come alive. If you like medical history, you’ll love this book. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something, Amazon will give me a few cents. 

I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review.  

Medical Management of Diabetes Mellitus, edited by Jack L. Leahy, Nathaniel G. Clark, and William T. Cefalu. Marcel Dekker. Inc, 2000

This is a medical textbook, so it’s a lot more technical than diabetes books written for the lay person. It gives the actual mechanism of what happens in diabetes; the types of diabetes, what causes them, the role of diet, exercise, oral medications, insulin, and islet transplants. It deals with the complications of diabetes in detail- eye problems, kidney failure, skin problems, cardiac and vascular issues, foot problems (if you don’t have a strong stomach, skip that chapter- there are some very graphic photos of foot ulcers in it), nerve function, digestive issues, sexual issues, pregnancy and more- since diabetes screws up every part of your body, there is a lot to cover. It doesn’t go deeply into anything but provides basics, but it’s still far more detailed than you’ll find in a book aimed at the non-doctor. The authors do use medical terminology, but what they use is easily looked up on line. Of course, one of the authors states that the average American reads and comprehends only at the fifth grade level, so I guess doctors will be surprised if a lot of us are reading this book! 

The above is an affiliate link; if you click through and buy something, Amazon will give me a few cents. This in no way affected my review.