Becoming Dr. Q
Becoming Dr. Q

Author: Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2011-10-01

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0520949609

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Today he is known as Dr. Q, an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who leads cutting-edge research to cure brain cancer. But not too long ago, he was Freddy, a nineteen-year-old undocumented migrant worker toiling in the tomato fields of central California. In this gripping memoir, Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa tells his amazing life story—from his impoverished childhood in the tiny village of Palaco, Mexico, to his harrowing border crossing and his transformation from illegal immigrant to American citizen and gifted student at the University of California at Berkeley and at Harvard Medical School. Packed with adventure and adversity—including a few terrifying brushes with death—Becoming Dr. Q is a testament to persistence, hard work, the power of hope and imagination, and the pursuit of excellence. It’s also a story about the importance of family, of mentors, and of giving people a chance.

A Surgeon in the Village
A Surgeon in the Village

Author: Tony Bartelme

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2017-03-28

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 080704492X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A “lyrical, inspirational” story of doctors who changed the health care of an African nation (Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation) Dr. Dilan Ellegala arrives in Tanzania, shocked to find the entire country has just three brain surgeons for its population of forty-two million. Haydom Lutheran Hospital lacks even the most basic surgical tools, not even a saw to open a patient’s skull. Here, people with head injuries or brain tumors heal on their own or die. When confronted with a villager suffering from a severe head trauma, Dilan buys a tree saw from a farmer, sterilizes it, and then uses it to save the man’s life. Yet Dilan realizes that there are far too many neurosurgery patients for one person to save, and of course he will soon be leaving Tanzania. He needs to teach someone his skills. He identifies a potential student in Emmanuel Mayegga, a stubborn assistant medical officer who grew up in a mud hut. Though Mayegga has no medical degree, Dilan sees that Mayegga has the dexterity, intelligence, and determination to do brain surgery. Over six months, he teaches Mayegga how to remove tumors and treat hydrocephalus. And then, perhaps more important, Dilan teaches Mayegga how to pass on his newfound skills. Mayegga teaches a second Tanzanian, who teaches a third. It’s a case of teach-a-man-to-fish meets brain surgery. As he guides these Tanzanians to do things they never thought possible, Dilan challenges the Western medical establishment to do more than send vacationing doctors on short-term medical missions. He discovers solutions that could transform health care for two billion people across the world. A Surgeon in the Village is the incredible and riveting account of one man’s push to “train-forward”—to change our approach to aid and medical training before more lives are needlessly lost. His story is a testament to the transformational power of teaching and the ever-present potential for change. As many as seventeen million people die every year because of a shortage of surgeons, more than die from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. Dilan Ellegala and other visionaries are boldly proposing ways of saving lives.

The Village
The Village

Author: Nikita Lalwani

Publisher: Doubleday Canada

Published: 2013-07-02

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 0307374629

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The long-awaited follow-up to the critically acclaimed, Booker longlisted Gifted, a provocative novel about an experimental open prison in India and the havoc a team of journalists wreaks on the delicate moral code of the inmates. After a long journey from England, Ray Bhullar arrives early on a winter morning at the gates of a remote Indian village called Ashwer which will be her home for the next three months. The door of the hut she will share with Serena, her English co-worker, is a loose sheet of metal, the windows simple holes in the walls. Beyond the lockless door, village life goes on as usual. And yet, the village is anything but normal. Despite the domestic chores being carried out, cooking, fetching water and sewing and laundering linens, Ashwer is a village of murderers, an experimental open prison. And when Ray and her crew take up residence, to observe and to make a documentary, it seems that they are innocent visitors into a violent world, on a mission to hold the place up to viewers as the ultimate example of tolerance. But the longer Ray and her colleagues stay and their need for drama intensifies, the line between innocence and guilt begins to blur and an unexpected and terrifying new kind of cruelty emerges. A mesmerizing and heartfelt tale of manipulation and personal morality, Nikita Lalwani's new novel brilliantly exposes how truly frail our moral judgment can be.

The Life and Times of a One-Armed Surgeon
The Life and Times of a One-Armed Surgeon

Author: Morris A. Robbins

Publisher: Bookbaby

Published: 2021-04

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9781098354008

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Morris A. Robbins, M.D. tells a compelling story of overcoming seemingly impossible odds. He begins with a delightful look at his past in rural New Jersey. Ready to embark on his college education, he suffers a near-fatal accident that leaves him permanently maimed. With grit, determination, and ingenuity, he persists in following his dream of becoming a surgeon. During a 50-year medical career, Doc touched countless lives with his skill and inspiring example. His unassuming recollections are supported with additional material curated by his daughter Dorothy Robbins Talavera, including documentation from files, correspondence, news clippings, family photos and first-hand comments from people who knew him. This honest, but uplifting account is bound to be helpful to a wide-ranging audience of readers.

How Doctors Think
How Doctors Think

Author: Jerome Groopman

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2008-03-12

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 0547348630

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On average, a physician will interrupt a patient describing her symptoms within eighteen seconds. In that short time, many doctors decide on the likely diagnosis and best treatment. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong—with catastrophic consequences. In this myth-shattering book, Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make. Groopman explores why doctors err and shows when and how they can—with our help—avoid snap judgments, embrace uncertainty, communicate effectively, and deploy other skills that can profoundly impact our health. This book is the first to describe in detail the warning signs of erroneous medical thinking and reveal how new technologies may actually hinder accurate diagnoses. How Doctors Think offers direct, intelligent questions patients can ask their doctors to help them get back on track. Groopman draws on a wealth of research, extensive interviews with some of the country’s best doctors, and his own experiences as a doctor and as a patient. He has learned many of the lessons in this book the hard way, from his own mistakes and from errors his doctors made in treating his own debilitating medical problems. How Doctors Think reveals a profound new view of twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients the vital information they need to make better judgments together.

A Luxury Called Health a Doctor's Journey Through the Art, the Science and the Trickery of Medicine
A Luxury Called Health a Doctor's Journey Through the Art, the Science and the Trickery of Medicine

Author: Kavery Nambisan

Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books

Published: 2021-11-21

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9789354470714

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Description The miracles and tragedies of life, the compassion and cruelties of humanity are nowhere more visible than in the field of medicine. It is these that Kavery Nambisan-doctor and writer of immense sensitivity-explores in this memoir, drawing upon her work as a surgeon over four decades in rural and small-town India. Through her patients' stories, she depicts the highs and lows of medical practice: Sudha, in Mokama, Bihar, left immobilized waist-down after being set on fire by her in-laws, but determined to walk; construction workers in Lonavala, Maharashtra, who preferred the quick-fix of the 'drip', so that they wouldn't miss their daily wage; four-year-old Pavana in the Anamallais, mauled by a leopard, who had to be driven over 40 kilometres of gutted roads to the nearest hospital. And in contrast, the friend of a Tamil Nadu chief minister who could summon a doctor repeatedly, at will, to attend to her stubbed toe. Settled in Kodagu, Karnataka, after years of practice in hospitals, Kavery now works as a GP, and she writes about treating snake bites, skin diseases, tuberculosis, epileptic seizures and, lately, Covid-19; even as she helps some of her patients hide their meagre savings from alcoholic husbands. Throughout, Kavery also examines the evolution of medical practice and the state of India's public health; and weaves in episodes from her personal life: learning from heroes and rogues, coming into her own as a surgeon, and nursing her husband, the poet Vijay Nambisan, who was claimed by cancer. Engaging, incisive and deeply felt, A Luxury Called Health shows, as few books have ever done, 'the sincerity and the deception, the valour and the cowardice beneath the white coat'.

On the Border of a Dream
On the Border of a Dream

Author: Edgar H. Hernandez

Publisher: Cartwright Publishing

Published: 2018-05-31

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781732173606

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On the Border of a Dream tells the true story of a boy from rural Mexico, who at a young age sets his mind to becoming a surgeon in the USA. This memoir follows Edgar Hernandez from his tight-knit family in Mexico through his journeys to the USA. This is an inspiring story of a talented immigrant who achieves his dream: becoming a renowned surgeon.

What’s Up, Doc? a Surgeon’s Story
What’s Up, Doc? a Surgeon’s Story

Author: Dr. Riaz Mohammed

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2019-07-23

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 1973668793

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Riaz Mohammed was born into a Muslim family in Pakistan. While a boy in the village of Gujarat, he witnessed a young boy chasing cattle into a fast-flowing stream. The boy was pulled from the water, but there was nothing that could be done for him—and he died. It was then that the author decided to be a doctor, so he could help people. Eventually, the author and his family immigrated to Scotland. There, he was treated unkindly, but he was determined to navigate his way through life. At age sixteen, he saw a vision of Jesus Christ while at camp. He converted to Christianity, which only made his life more complicated, but he studied hard and became a surgeon. He had started a family of his own and was at the top of his career when he contracted Hepatitis B—and he had to start over again in an entirely new way. Through it all, God worked in miraculous ways to never let him down.

A Surgeon's Incredible Life Journey
A Surgeon's Incredible Life Journey

Author: Ali H. Morad

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 1449043658

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

His journey began in Iran, where he was born and learned the ways of an ancient civilization. As you travel with him, you will learn about his childhood, his parents, his teenage years and his years as a medical student in Iran. Arriving in a new country where people's beliefs and customs were so unlike his own, he discovered that if you are sincere in your beliefs, no matter how different they may be, most people will respect you and your right to your beliefs. Soon, he had two countries and fond memories of his youth in his native land and a deep gratitude for a country that has given him the opportunity to develop wonderful friendships. He has also learned that people are more alike than they are different and that everyone has a belief of some kind and that they want to be cared about and respected. Having the perspective of a native Iranian and a patriotic American, he provides a view of his heritage, as well as the continuing story of his life here in the United States. He was a surgeon who placed a higher value on being a humane, caring person rather than power or money. He has viewed his patients and co-workers as family and treated them with enduring love and respect. Without exception, they have reciprocated. As a physician, he knows laughter and hope is effective medicine, and he has supplied large doses of these in his stories. It is his desire that they give you enjoyment, as well as a more in-depth perception of a different culture and of the man who came from that culture. This is his small contribution to helping us all learn how to live in peace and harmony with one another.

A Surgeon's Civil War
A Surgeon's Civil War

Author: Daniel M. Holt

Publisher: Kent State University Press

Published: 1991-05-31

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 9780873385381

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Daniel M. Holt, a successful country doctor in the upstate village of Newport, New York, accepted the position of assistant surgeon in the 121st New York Volunteer Army in August 1862. At age 42 when he was commissioned, he was the oldest member of the staff. But his experience served him well, as his regiment participated in nearly all the major campaigns in the eastern theater of the war--Crampton's Gap before Antietam, Fredericksburg, Salem Church, the Mine Run campaign, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign, and Appomattox. In A Surgeon's Civil War, the educated and articulate Holt describes camp life, army politics, and the medical difficulties that he and his colleagues experienced. His reminiscences and letters provide an insider's look at medicine as practiced on the battlefield and offer occasional glimpses of the efficacy of Surgeon General William A. Hammond's reforms as they affected Holt's regiment. He also comments on other subjects, including slavery and national events. Holt served until October 17, 1864 when ill health forced him to resign.