Complications

A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

By: Atul Gawande

Narrated by: William David Griffith

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Sometimes in medicine the only way to know what is truly going on in a patient is to operate, to look inside with one's own eyes. This book is exploratory surgery on medicine itself, laying bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is - complicated, perplexing, and profoundly human.

Atul Gawande offers an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge, where science is ambiguous, information is limited, the stakes are high, yet decisions must be made. In dramatic and revealing stories of patients and doctors, he explores how deadly mistakes occur, why good surgeons go bad. He shows what happens when medicine comes up against the inexplicable: an architect with incapacitating back pain for which there is no physical cause; a young woman with nausea that won't go away; a television newscaster whose blushing is so severe that she cannot do her job. Gawande also ponders the human factor that makes saving lives possible.

At once tough-minded and humane, Complications is a new kind of medical writing, nuanced and lucid, unafraid to confront the conflicts and uncertainties that lie at the heart of modern medicine, yet always alive to the possibilities of wisdom in this extraordinary endeavor.

©2002 Atul Gawande (P)2003 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"Gawande's sharp eye, crisp prose, and insightful understanding make his book as enjoyable as it is edifying." (Los Angeles Times)

"These exquisitely crafted essays, in which medical subjects segue into explorations of much larger themes, place Gawande among the best in the field." (Publishers Weekly)

"Diagnosis: riveting." (Time)

good book buy

The guy skipped like 3 chapters which was really frustrating & on top of not reading some chapters the one he did read ? some paragraphs got skipped it got really annoying ; overall i liked the book

Good reflections, thoughtful

Would you consider the audio edition of Complications to be better than the print version?

Haven't read print version.

Any additional comments?

This was a thoughtful book about risk, patient choice, and the practice of medicine. I found both the first and last 3rds of the book very good, while there was a section in the middle that was less interesting for me. Overall a v. good listen.

Intriguing

A very insightful view from the perspective of a surgeon. The real-life stories were interesting, and he makes some good points about inherent problems in the medical field.

Well told story, a must read!

Complications is a story for anyone who works with doctors or had regular dealings with them. Gawande weaves story is together to create a picture of doctors that is interesting as it proves that they are only human. I will be listening to it again.

Good read!

The content is great and the reading was good too. The only thing that bothered me was the music at the beginning and end of each chapter. It was distracting and didn't add anything to the reading.

Great book, terrible random elevator music

Who on Earth thinks it's a good idea to insert random snippets of elevator / hold music throughout an audiobook?! Otherwise a great book with entertaining anecdotes.

Absorbing read

The personable stories are gold for anyone and everyone. Especially students in or planning to enter medicine, the details are so exciting.

Outstanding

This is a fantastic book. It will be enjoyable for anyone with some interest in medicine, and most likely will be thoroughly enjoyed even by those with no interest in medicine.

It's not really heavily focussed on technical aspects of medicine, though there is some detail about medical procedures but it's generally just part of setting the scene of the story.

The book is mainly a collection of stories with a common theme - that doctors are human and sometimes make mistakes. There are some stories about negligent doctors, but primarily it's about good doctors who aren't always right. There is a kind of running ethical dilemma about the balance between training and giving practice to new doctors and giving patients the best care.

Full of insight

Wonderful! If you are familiar with science and the uncertainties of real life research (and practice) as opposed to the text book models of "scientific process", this book won't come as a shock. It is a brilliant exploration of the uncertainties in the science of medicine and the impact that human beings, with their frailties and their brilliant insights, have on a medicine. While I must admit it leaves me somewhat more nervous about major medical procedures, if more people understood medicine as presented here, we would probably not be plagued with so many law suits, the resultant high malpractice insurance fees and the final result of high cost health care. At the same time, if some of the insights presented in this book were translated into new systems and practices in the medical field, we probably would also not have so much human error to begin with. A great listen I recommend highly.

Riveting

An awesome book; stories very interesting; great insight into the medical world. look forward to reading more of Gawande's work